Life of the Yellow Ranger
by Katie4ever
Summary: This is just Emily's life as a Samurai, and how the others fall into place with her. :
1. Emily's crush

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**A/N: This could be a one-shot but I could expand it into more chapters. You guys tell me what you think.**

Was it wrong of her to like him? She didn't think so. Who was to blame anyway? She was a growing girl and man was he cute. No, that was wrong, she shouldn't think like that.

Emily sighed and focused again on her training, but the more she tried the harder it became to focus. It didn't help that Mike was there, right in front of her.

Emily bit her lip gently. He wasn't distracting, but if only he knew how Emily felt he would probably try not to act like that.

Mike managed to kick Emily's feet from under her and she fell to the ground with a huff.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked, running over and looking worried.

Emily laughed at how cute he was being. She turned to the others who looked just as worried. "Never better." She said and stood up, cleaning her training clothes.

"Good. I think we can all use a break. We'll return to training in half an hour." Jayden ordered and went into the house, not wanting to waste any of his time.

Emily sighed and walked in behind him, trying to not be with Mike. Even thinking about him made her blush. How was she ever going to be his training partner?

"Hey, Em, are you okay?" Mia asked, walking next to her.

"Yes, why?" Emily looked at her confused. "Is something wrong?"

Mia chuckled at her friends innocence. "No, come on, let's go talk."

"Okay." Emily said, feeling confused by Mia's strange behavior. They both went to each others room and when Mia closed the door behind her, she gave Emily a sisterly grin.

"So how are you really feeling?" She asked the yellow Ranger.

Emily shrugged. "I'm good. I could have done better in training today, but as soon as we go back out there I"m sure I'll be more energized."

Mia rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant. I meant to ask you about Mike and you..."

"What?" Emily blushed and stared at her. Did Mia know about her feelings? "Mike and me?"

"Yes." Mia frowned, not sure what to say after Emily's reaction. "You like him right?"

"Shh!" Emily looked around wildly, expecting something to pop out of nowhere. "Would you be quiet! What if he hears you?"

Mia smiled. "So you do like him?"

"Is it that obvious?" Emily asked, feeling pathetic.

Mia, sensing Emily's feelings shook her head, "No, but I'm a good guesser!" she lied. "How long have you liked him?"

"I don't even know if I do or not. I just think he's really cute." Emily said, though she really did like him. But sighed when she felt like she was lying. "I liked him since I first met him."

Mia ignored her change of answers and said, "Have you told him?"

"How can I tell him, Mia?" Emily asked, surprised that Mia would even ask such a thing.

"Well, you like him. It's not going to be easy liking someone not when you're both in Samurai Training, but I'm sure it can work out."

"You don't think it's bad that he;s older than me by three years?" Emily asked, shocked by Mia's support.

"I don't agree with it, on Mike's part. But if he one day passes the line of does something stupid, you can be sure that I'll have a good long talk with him." Mia warned, thinking of many ways she could beat him up probably.

Emily laughed, thinking it was funny, though she didn't wish Mike any harm, or for Mia to do such a thing. But that the pink Ranger cared, that meant a lot to her.

"Thanks." Emily said.

"You're like my little sister. I don't let boys mess with my little sister, even if they're Jayden or Kevin, and specially not Mike." Mia sighed. "He's not a bad kid, I'm hoping he has a good heart. That's the only reason why I don't disagree with your feelings." She said and smiled.

"It'll be okay, Mia. It's not like he likes a kid like me." Emily sighed. "I'm the worst samurai in the history of samurai's."

Mia laughed gently. "That's a long time and no offense, Emily, but I've read many Samurai history books on the past Rangers and the green Ranger was always the bad one."

"Because they like to joke around?" Emily asked, not wanting them to have a bad rap.

"Yes, that's exactly why." Mia nodded.

Emily laughed silently. "Mike will make those books one day."

"And so will you," Mia added gently. "As the sweetest, most calm yellow Ranger in history."

"Those aren't good attributes in battle." Emily argued, pouting.

"That may be true, but they're good attributes to the rest of us." Mia hugged her close and smiled at Emily. "To us, that makes them the best attributes in the world."

Emily laughed. "Thank you."

Mia smiled. "Come on, we have to go train. If we don't Jayden will come looking for us and then we'll have to stay two hours after the others." Mia told her, and before Mia could continue, Emily was already running outside.

Mia laughed and decided to join her before she got in trouble for being late.

Practice was the same as usual, but unlike earlier, Emily got to train with Kevin. Who, though better than Mike, was better than anything Emily could have hoped for. Of course that also meant being hit more and falling to the ground more often. It was embarrassing.

When it was finally over, Emily sighed in relief and sat in the benches. The others sat around her. "Are you okay?" Antonio asked worried.

Emily sighed. They always fussed over her, it was nice, but they over did it. "I'm fine." She said and felt like she had said that for the millionth time since ever.

"I'm sorry, Emily. I didn't meant to hurt you." Kevin apologized, his eyes completely worried. Emily shook her head, but he continued. "I shouldn't have been so rough with you."

"What does that mean?" Emily asked, and stared at him. Feeling like he had meant more than what he had said.

"I...uh...nothing. Hope you're feeling better. Do you want more water? I'll go get you some more." Kevin took her bottle from her and left before she could say something.

Emily looked at the others for answers. They didn't say anything. Emily sighed and stood up, moaning as she stretched her hurt muscles.

"I'm going to take a shower." She announced to the others and went inside. But hid behind the door and listened to them talking.

"Is she okay?" Jayden asked Mia.

Emily listened. They were probably talking about her. Why wouldn't she be okay?

"Yes, she's just a bit distracted. Probably tired." Mia lied.

Emily smiled, she was really a good friend. She wouldn't want Mike to know how she felt. Just yet anyway.

"She's getting better." Antonio's voice piped up and the others agreed.

"Of course she's doing great. She learned everything from me." Mike boasted.

Emily bit her lip, trying not to laugh.

"Sure, Mike. You're the master Samurai here." Antonio teased. "My moves are better then yours but probably the only reason why she's so good at listening to you is because she likes you."

"Antonio!" Mia and Jayden said, before Antonio screamed in pain.

"Ow, hey what was that for?"

"She likes me?" Mike asked confused.

"We don't know that for sure, Mike. Antonio was just saying that as a guess." Jayden said.

"Yeah, we can't be sure unless Emily tells you herself." Mia said, and sounded like she was forcing a smile.

"Unless she tells us." Antonio added.

Emily heard something being smacked and once again, Antonio screamed.

"Why on earth would she tell us?" Mia asked, sounding angry. "You wouldn't keep it a secret."

"Why would that be kept a secret?" Jayden asked, confused.

Mia sighed and Emily shook her head. Boys didn't understand anything.

"Whatever, just forget about it-"

"Here you go." Kevin appeared in front of Emily and she had to close her eyes so she wouldn't feel scared. Her heart was beating wildly and she glared at Kevin. "Are you okay? Did I scare you?"

Emily shook her head. "No, I was just thinking a lot."

Kevin looked outside and shrugged. "Okay."

Mentor Ji walked over to them.

"Dinner's almost ready. Who wants to help set the table?"

"Not me." Mike said.

"Come help me, Mike." Mentor Ji ordered and turned to go to the kitchen.

"That was a trick question! It doesn't count." Mike passed Emily and glanced over at her, looked at her strangely before smiling and leaving for the kitchen.

Emily felt herself blush and felt mortified. Mike probably thought she had a crush on him, which she did, but she didn't want him to know that. Antonio was going to pay.

Just as she thought about how to get revenge on Antonio, he walked inside.

"Hey, Emily."

Emily looked at him. "You...you're..." She walked away unable to find words to what to say.

Antonio watched her go, confused.

Mia walked next to him, having seen the whole thing and 'tsk-ed' at him. "I'm going to go talk to her." She said, and didn't tell him to be careful. It was better not to scare Antonio.

"What did I do?" Antonio asked no one in particular.

"Knowing you." Kevin said, "You probably did a lot of things."

Antonio went to the kitchen with Jayden and Kevin, feeling kind of bad for some unexplainable reason, specially after what had happened.


	2. Ranger Down

Emily sighed and stood up when they others walked outside. She had woken up really early and she couldn't go back to sleep. She was mortified that Mike knew how she felt. Mia and Jayden did a good job at making it seem like a guess, but Emily still felt shy around him.

"You're awake early." Kevin said with a smile. "That's very good."

Emily smiled at the compliment. "I want to fig- practice with Antonio today!" she said, and hoped they hadn't heard her mess up.

Other than receiving weird looks from the others, Jayden allowed her to practice with him.

"I promise I'll spar fair and square." Antonio promised.

"Good." Emily smiled and attacked him. In her anger she was able to make him fall to the ground fast. "Are you okay?"

The others looked on, worried.

"Yeah." Antonio got up. "You're good."

Emily smiled at him, but still feeling a bit angry she let him have it. She didn't hold back and soon enough he was in the floor again. She sighed feeling guilty.

"You're doing great, Antonio." she knew the others were watching. She rolled her eyes and added. "You don't have to let me win."

Antonio laughed. "I'm not lett-"

"Yes, you are, let's keep practicing."

practice ended with a lot more bruises and hits. Emily convinced Antonio to fight back fairly and she regretted it. He was fast and good. She ended on the floor as many times as he did, maybe even more.

"Good job you two." Jayden said, nodding.

The others had stared at Emily and Antonio practice, so they hadn't done as good.

"Thank you." Emily smiled. "Let me get you some ice." She told Antonio and went to the kitchen before he stopped her. She felt guilty for what she had done, but he kinda deserved it.

She got the peas and was about to leave when she bumped into Mike.

"Oh, Mike, hey." Emily blushed as she looked up at him.

Mike looked at her with a small smile. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"You were beating Antonio up." Mike said with a laugh, but stopped when Emily glared at him. "Not that it was funny, but you were doing a great job."

Emily thanked him.

"Well, I was going to ask you something-"

The Gap Sensor went off and Mike groaned. "Seriously? Don't they ever sleep?"

Emily laughed but ran with the others to the map.

"They're in the city." Mentor Ji said.

"Come on!" Jayden called to the rest of them.

They all ran to the city where A Nighlok with two heads was attacking the people. "Don't run away children, I'm only trying to play." It laughed evilly.

They all ran with their swords.

"Hey, I'm playing!" It said.

"We don't come to play!" Jayden said and attacked it with his sword.

"You need to loosen up," It cackled and before Jayden could get away, it ran behind him and touched him in the back of his neck. He fell to the ground before he demorphed.

"Jayden!" The rest of the Rangers screamed.

They tried to get the Nighlok. It was too fast.

"Jayden, wake up, amigo." Antonio said, trying to wake Jayden up.

The others stood around them, protectively.

"What do we do?" Emily yelled. "It's too fast."

"We have to try guys. For Jayden." Kevin announced and went toward the Nighlok again. No luck.

"I'm bored. I'll see you losers later." It cackled and disappeared.

"No, wait!" Kevin screamed.

"Kevin, relax." Mia sighed. "It's okay."

"How can it be okay, he did something Jayden and now he's gone."

They all ran to Jayden.

"We should get him back to the house." Mike said.

The others agreed and they all carried him back. It was hard, but they somehow did it, by walking around the forest. They couldn't go through the city, the people would think it was weird.

Mentor Ji ran to them and checked Jayden over.

"Is he okay?" Emily asked worried.

"What's wrong with him?" Asked Mia.

Mentor Ji sighed.

"I don't know, we'll just have to wait until he wakes up."

The others looked at each other worried, before Antonio and Mentor Ji took Jayden to his room.

"I hope he's okay." Emily said, and looked outside where Kevin was practicing non-stop. She sighed again.

"He will be, you'll see." Mia hugged the yellow Ranger.

Mike walked over. "You guys want to eat?" They both looked at him like he was crazy. "Getting worried sick and not eating is not going to help." He pointed out.

"He's right." Mia sighed. "I'll go see if Kevin wants to eat." She went outside to talk to Kevin.

Emily went to the kitchen where Mentor Ji was cooking.

"Is he better?" She asked.

"Antonio probably knows. He hasn't left Jayden's side since you all returned."

Emily ran to Jayden's room where Antonio was watching him sadly. He looked up when he heard her walk in.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." She looked down at Jayden, he looked peaceful.

"He's okay.I think." Antonio told her. "He hasn't moved an inch."

"Neither have you. Come eat." Emily told him."

"He needs me here." Antonio argued. "He's my best friend, I need to stay here."

"I know you care, but you need to eat."

"I"m not hungry." Antonio told her.

Emily sighed. "I'll get you a plate then."

Antonio smiled. "Thank you."

Emily nodded and walked back to the kitchen. "He'll eat in the room." She told Mentor Ji.

"Stir this, Emily. I'll go talk to him." Mentor Ji gave her the spoon and left to talk to Antonio.

Mike sat in the table, lost in thought.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, never better. The one's that aren't okay are Kevin and Antonio. They're taking it pretty hard."

Emily nodded and smiled. "The only reason we're not is because we think he'll be okay and wake up."

"Think?" Mike asked.

"Well, we're not sure what's going to happen." Emily said instead.

"You're right, but I think he'll be alright."

"Hopefully." Emily said.

Dinner was spent quiet. Mia was able to get Kevin to eat, but Mentor Ji had to get the help of the others to pull Antonio out of the room. They all ate in silence sad that their leader was down.


	3. Time To Play

**A/N: This was sort of long, but I wanted to put everything down. And sorry about the weird Nighlok name, I couldn't come up with something better.**

Nothing was different about the house. So why did it feel like she wasn't alone?

Seeing a figure sitting in the living room. The darkness around them didn't let her see his face, but Emily stopped in her tracks.

"Hey, Emily, you're up early."

"Jayden?" Emily walked forward, surprised that Jayden was up. "Are you okay? When did you get out of bed?"

"I've never felt better than right now." Jayden laughed.

Emily furrowed her eyebrows confused. Okay, it was weird, but she could handle it.

"How are you?" She asked.

She turned on the lights to see Jayden looking at her funny.

"What are you talking about?"

"Jayden, yesterday, you were attacked. The Nighlok he-" Emily was interrupted by Jayden.

"What's a Nighlok?" Jayden asked, genuinely confused.

Emily was confused too. Jayden didn't know about Nighlok's? Had he lost his memory. "Oh boy." She said, and looked around trying to call the others.

"Do you want to play?" Jayden asked with a smile on his face.

"Um, sure, but let's call the others. It'll be more fun with more people." Emily said. "I'll go get them."

"Good idea." Jayden watched her strangely and Emily felt jittery. She almost ran to her room and scared Mia with how much she was shaking her.

"What happened?" Mia asked, worried. Expecting the world to be on fire or something, specially after Emily's outburst.

"It's Jayden..." Emily whispered and looked around, feeling like she was being watched.

"He'll be okay, Em. Just go back to sleep." Mia snuggled back into the pillows.

"You don't understand he's in the living room." Emily said.

Mia opened her eyes. "Did you dream that?"

"No, he's really there. I went to get water and he's there. Awake."

Mia didn't need to be told twice. She got the sheets off of her and they both ran to the living room where Jayden was juggling fruit.

"Jayden?" Mia asked, confused. She had never seen Jayden do that before.

"Hey, Mia." He gave her a smile.

"Are you okay?" She asked, Emily stood behind her, watching Jayden like a hawk.

"Never better." Jayden said, and threw the banana at Mia. "Want to juggle with me?" He didn't wait for her to answer, he just started to throw the fruit back and forth. Mia didn't have much trouble, but he was throwing things too fast. When one of them dropped Jayden stomped his foot. "We were doing so well." He sighed. "What do you guys want to play now?"

"Are you sure you're okay, Jayden?" Mia asked.

"Sure, why not?" Jayden smirked. "I just want to have fun, don't you?"

Emily and Mia looked at each other.

"But..." Emily began, not sure what to say.

"Come on, you two. We need to play. What's the point of being all work when we don't have time to play?" Jayden asked. Then waved them off lazily. "I'm bored. You guys do what you want, I'm going to go play." He went outside and the two girls followed him.

"Weird right?" Emily asked.

"I think it has something to do with that Nighlok from yesterday." Mia pointed out. "I mean, why else would he be talking about playing and stuff?"

"True." Emily nodded. "We need to tell the others."

Mia nodded. "You watch him and make sure he doesn't leave. I'll be right back."

When she was finally able to wake the others, she told them everything. And they all watched as Jayden and Emily were playing hide and seek. It was strange, but Emily had to do it. Jayden had wanted to leave, and the only way she got him to stay was by gently tapping him, saying 'you're it' and then running for her life. Jayden and Emily laughed, clearly enjoying themselves.

"It's not weird..." Kevin began. "Just different."

"You're totally freaked out." Mike said. "I know I am. Hey, no offense. I just never imagined I would see Jayden act this way."

"Any ideas why, Mentor?" Antonio asked, never looking away from Jayden and Emily.

"I'll look up the Nighlok, but I'm pretty sure what he does." Mentor looked at Jayden, who was having the time of his life. Emily, too, seemed to be having fun.

"Go keep him busy. I'll see what I can find." Mentor Ji said than walked away.

Kevin walked outside. Jayden immediately stopped running and went for Kevin. "You're it!" He declared and ran for his life.

"Wait, what?"

"You're it, Kevin." Emily called back. "You have to catch us now." She giggled.

Mia walked outside. Kevin gently tapped her and moved away. "I'm not going to be it." Kevin told her. "I don't feel like running."

Mia glared before she smiled. "Really?"

Kevin didn't answer and began to ran away from Mia.

Antonio watched from the sidelines. Something seemed fishy about all of this. It always did when Nighlok's were involved, but he was sure Jayden wasn't just out for play.

Mia finally tagged Emily who squealed before chasing after her three friends.

"Doesn't this look weird to you?" Mike asked.

Antonio nodded. But didn't voice his thoughts. Not yet.

"Want to go play?" Antonio asked, with a smirk.

Mike scoffed. "Better than training." He chuckled and ran outside where the rest of the began to ran with him, away from Emily.

Antonio didn't join them. Instead he walked back inside where Mentor Ji was looking over all the books he had on Nighlok's. "Any luck?"

Mentor Ji shook his head. "How did he look like?"

"He had two heads. And they were both smiling." Antonio said.

Mentor Ji nodded. They both looked through the books until it was almost nine. "Is this him?"

Antonio nodded when he saw it.

"Pranktwor,"Mentor Ji began to read, "Is a Nighlok who likes to have fun, but also has control over the human-"

He stopped and they both immediately ran outside where Jayden was nowhere to be seen, but the others were still playing.

"What happened?" Antonio asked, looking around frantically.

"We're just playing." Emily said, in between peals of laughter.

"Where's Jayden?" Mentor Ji asked.

"Oh, he had to go." Mike told them and caught Emily, and spun her around in the air. Emily laughed as he put her down.

"What?" Antonio asked, panicked.

"Don't worry, Antonio." Kevin told him, gently. "He said he'll be back."

Antonio looked at Mentor Ji. Unable to believe that this had happened.

"Come and play, you guys." Mia called out for them.

"What do we do?" Antonio asked.

"They're not controlled, but they do seem to not be completely aware of things. Jayden must have used his power symbol to keep playing."

"I don't see how that's even possible, but I'll trust you. How do we get them out of it?"

Mentor Ji looked at the hose. Antonio followed his gaze and sighed. "They're going to be angry after this."

"We have no time for that. They'll understand."

Antonio nodded and got the hose. "Okay, guys. Time to wake up."

"What?" They all looked at him confused, before they were sprayed head to toe with water.

"Antonio, why?" Emily cried out, eyes flashing in anger.

Antonio ran behind Mentor, who would probably have a better chance of being listened to.

"Jayden's gone." Mentor Ji told them. "I don't know where he went, but he's being controlled by the Nighlok."

Mike scoffed. "That would make sense. What better way of getting rid of the sealing symbol than by getting the red Ranger on their side."

Mike had meant that to be a joke. But it was true, that was why the Nighlok had targeted Jayden.

"We need to find him." Mia said, now more motivated than ever. If something happened to Jayden, there was no way to stop Master Xandred. Jayden was the only one who would be able to do that. He was also their friend, they needed to save him.

"How do we do that?" Kevin asked. "He could be anywhere."

"If he has his Samuraizer we'll have an easier time doing that." Antonio began to fumble with the buttons of his Samuraizer. "Golden, I found him. He's in the city. Where we fought the Nighlok last time."

They didn't need to be told to go. They all ran to the city where, to their surprise, everyone was running in fear and a lot of Moogers were attacking the people.

"How did this happen?" Mia asked.

"We'll figure it out later. We need to save these people." Kevin told them.

Everyone was gone, so they were safe to morph. They were ready to fight the Moogers, they were motivated even. When they finally went after Pranktwor, they were shocked to see Jayden there.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the brats from before. Why don't you ever let us Nighlok have fun, huh?"

"You're bad and evil and hurting innocent people is not fun." Emily said angrily.

"Aw, you're so sweet, but you're wrong." He nodded to Jayden. "Go and play, you deserve it."

"Yes, master."

"No, Jayden, stop." Antonio said before Jayden began to attack them all. They all tried to fight back, but no one wanted to hurt Jayden. This was different from when Kevin was being controlled. Only Jayden had fought with him. This time, Jayden was attacking them all. And because they were all trying not to attack him, he was winning.

"This will be the end of the red Ranger." Pranktwor chuckled joyfully. "But it would help if you hurt him as well. Come on, green, put your back into it. Blue, I know you can do better than that."

Antonio, angry that this was all a joke to him, began to understand that he needed to save Jayden and there was only one way to do that. He began to really fight him and punch him.

"Antonio what are you doing?" Emily called, not believing her eyes.

"I need to do this." Antonio said, landing a good punch, before using his Barracuda blade and successfully causing Jayden to fall to the floor. But he stubbornly got up.

"I'm your friend, Antonio." Jayden said, softly. "Why are you doing this?"

The effect was obvious when Antonio began to lower his blade, but before anyone could say anything. Jayden attacked once more. Antonio, having expected this, punched Jayden away, before kicking him to the closest thing. A telephone pole. Jayden fell to the ground with a moan, but Antonio didn't stop there. He went to the Nighlok, and was fast enough to attack him.

"I'll make you pay for what you've done!" Antonia growled and attacked with no mercy until the Nighlok was destroyed. The Nighlok soon went into his second life and since Jayden was out, the others could barely help. Antonio didn't seem to mind. He had his own personal vendetta against him.

"He's angry." Emily said, worried.

"Yeah, I've never seen Antonio this angry before...or determined." Kevin said, acknowledging that Antonio was doing a great job fighting. With one last attack from his Light Megazord Mega Spin Attack, the Nighlok was finished.

They returned home, where, with the Nighlok, destroyed, Jayden was back to normal. A bit bruised and hurt, and with a major headache, but fine.

"Where's Antonio?" Jayden asked, when he noticed his best friend wasn't there.

"He's outside." Emily told him, since the others didn't say anything. Jayden nodded, but didn't say more.

Mentor Ji stepped into the room. "I'll bring you some lunch, the rest of you, come eat."

They all nodded and after telling Jayden to get better, they all went to the kitchen. The boys did, but not Mia and Emily. They went outside where Antonio was sitting, thinking.

"Lunch is ready." Mia said, hoping this would somehow cheer him up.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Antonio, we haven't eaten at all today, and after what happened, you need to eat." Emily said, hoping that would change his mind.

"I'm not really hungry."

Mia sighed and sat down next to him. "I think something's bothering you. No one has to be a genius to know that it's about Jayden. Talk to us, Antonio, you can tell us anything."

Antonio sighed. "I..."

Emily sat down next to him and smiled at him encouragingly.

Antonio smiled back. "I didn't want to hurt him."

"We know you didn't." Mia said.

"But I did, and..."

"It wasn't your fault Antonio." Emily told him fiercely. "I know that it was a hard thing to do, but if you hadn't done that, he would still be defending that Nighlok." She sighed. "None of us would have touched him. If you hadn't done what you did, Jayden would still be under his control."

"You're right. You're both right." Antonio smiled. "I still feel guilty though."

"Good, we'd be surprised if you didn't." Mia teased. "Now come on, let's go eat."

Antonio nodded and went with them, his thoughts still on Jayden and their fight. It was hard to forget.

Pranktwor was able to control his victims and make them do what he wanted, but it was clear that he was only after Jayden. Master Xandred was going to hurt him one day and Antonio wasn't going to let that happen. But why that way? What had they achieved?

Sure, Jayden had disabled all the Gap Sensors around the city, they later realized, but now that they had fixed them, it was still strange. There was nothing strange happening. Jayden was alive and safe, so where was the small part that Antonio knew they were missing. What was Master Xandred trying to do exactly?

Those thoughts were for later, now he had to eat, if he didn't he would cause the others to be suspicious of his behavior and he wasn't sure how to explain anything at all.


	4. A Day Off

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

* * *

With Jayden still trying to be strong for the others, Emily practiced harder and harder. It was better now in the Shiba house. Something she was glad of. It wasn't everyday that the Nighlok's, or Master Xandred for that matter, let them have a day off. She was practicing outside when Mia walked over with a bowl of soup. Emily instantly stopped and she tried to not look scared.

"Mentor Ji, wanted me to give you some of his special soup." Mia said, looking weird.

"Oh, right." Emily laughed and tried to look casual. She didn't want Mia to feel guilty. They both sat down and as Emily ate her soup, Mia started to pull some of the grass from the ground.

"So you're avoiding Mike..." Mia began, and Emily inwardly sighed. This wasn't a conversation she wanted to have. "Why?"

"I almost told him how I felt, but then the Nighlok came and I lost my nerve." Emily told her, feeling pathetic. Now that she thought about it she felt a little bit stupid for having thought that was a good idea. But that was besides the point, she really liked Mike.

Mia sighed. "I don't have a say in who you can or can't like, but Emily, I think you know that it's hard to tell someone you like them."

Emily nodded. "I just freeze and..." She sighed. "I'm hopeless."

Mia shook her head. "What is that attitude? People don't give up on liking someone even if it's hard to tell them. Just be friends with him, Emily. For now that's the easiest thing to do. Avoiding him will not help."

Emily sighed again. Mia had a point, she always did. "Okay, I'll try."

"That's all I'm asking for." Mia smiled and stood up. "Mentor wanted to talk to us. So as soon as you're finished come inside." Emily nodded and she went back inside. Not letting her thoughts wonder about what Mentor wanted to talk about, Emily ate her soup in silence.

To her surprise when she entered the house to put her bowl away, the others were already in the living room, sitting. And waiting for her apparently. Emily blushed when the attention was put on her and she smiled shyly. "I'll be right back." She all but ran to the kitchen and put the bowl in the sink, before running back to her seat.

"Now that you're all here, I have some important news to tell you." Mentor Ji began, "I've decided that with all the attacks, you all need a break," (Jayden looked up and stared at Ji like he had grown two heads) "And so I want you all to have a day off from training," (he looked at Jayden when he said this) "You all deserve it and I'm sure if any Nighlok attacks I'll be able to reach you, but you need to have a break."

"Is this a trick?" Mike asked, though he was smiling. Emily tried to not look away when he looked at her.

"No, it is not." Mentor Ji told him.

"Great. I'm going to get changed." Mike left before he was properly dismissed. Emily smiled at that, but hid it by looking down.

"You're all going." He looked at Jayden again. "So, get ready. I don't want any of you in the house today."

Mia and Emily ran to their rooms while, Jayden and Kevin tried to argue about staying. For Mentor's luck, Antonio took his side and well, Emily wasn't about to stay and watch as everything got messy.

Mia and Emily looked at each other and nodded before going to each others closet. They liked to every now and then chose each others clothes. It was fun, and way easier than stressing about what they should wear.

After Emily had chose Mia a nice, soft white dress with pink flowers for her to wear, she turned to see Mia holding up black pants, and a yellow-long-sleeved shirt. Emily smiled before both girls changed.

"You look so pretty." Emily told her once she saw Mia in her dress.

"I missed something." Mia looked around Emily's side of the room, before getting a yellow headband and putting it on Emily. "There, now you look so sweet."

Emily looked at herself in the mirror and laughed. "Are you trying to make me look young?"

Mia laughed. "No, why would I do that?"

Emily guessed that even though she liked Mike, Mia still didn't like that. So she did whatever she could to make her look young. Even Mike would get the message that she was too young for him. Rolling her eyes, she walked outside with Mia. Jayden and Kevin were sitting down looking defeated, while Antonio talked to Mentor Ji by the kitchen's entrance.

"you guys ready?" Jayden asked, standing up.

"Yeah, where's Mike?" Mia asked.

"He's already outside." Kevin said with a sigh.

"Cheer up, Guys. You'll have fun." Antonio said and ignored how they both glared at him. "Let's go." He told the girls.

They made it to the bus just in time to see Mike arguing with him that they would be almost there. Emily sat down and smiled at him, before looking outside. The ride to the city was quiet.

The first stop was close to a park and Jayden decided this was where they would get out. Emily smiled as she looked around. It was such a beautiful day. It seemed after a while that she was the only one enjoying the day. Even Mia was not enjoying it. She was trying hard to make Kevin and Jayden enjoy it along with Antonio. Mike was getting frustrated and telling them off. Emily watched, not sure what to do or say.

"We need to be practicing. Master Xandred does not take a break.."

"Mentor was being kind, but..."

"You both need to enjoy this. Cheer up..."

"Jayden, amigo, please, stop acting so..."

"would you all shut up, you're giving me a headache..."

Emily couldn't hold it anymore. She pulled Mike first then Mia and Antonio. They were all shocked they stopped arguing.

"If they don't want to have fun and enjoy this beautiful day than so be it. We don't have to take care of them." she glared at Mia. "Specially not you, Mia. I know you care, we all do, but don't do it. Jayden and Kevin will not change their mind." She huffed and pulled her friends away from Jayden and Kevin. Mike she didn't have to pull away, he was actually leading the way.

"Emily, wait, shouldn't we..." Mia began, but to their surprise both boys followed. Emily smiled victorious.

"Wow, Em. Good thinking." Mike said, and Emily blushed.

"My sister always told me that the only way to get to people was to ignore them." She shrugged. "She said only when we were fighting though. It wouldn't count any other way."

The rest of the day was spent with them going to the movies. Emily tried to sit at the edge, but Mike beat her to it, and sat next to her. Mia was on her other side, and they both were still happy about the change of mood from Kevin and Jayden. They all walked out later and went to the closest restaurant. They all ate pizza in silence.

"We're sorry guys." Kevin began.

"We didn't mean to be so rude." Jayden finished for him. "We just didn't..."

"It's okay. We understand, but you guys know a break here and there doesn't hurt anybody." Mike told them.

They both nodded.

"Thank you, Emily." They told her.

"I didn't do anything, but you're welcome."

The rest of the day was spent with them having fun. Not once did any of them go back to being grumpy or want to go back. Emily convinced them to have ice cream for dessert, even though it was already night. The ride back to the Shiba house was calm and with them eating their ice cream.

They all called it a night, except for Emily who decided that she wanted to clean her bowl from earlier, but found it already clean. Mentor Ji had probably cleaned it himself.

"Hey," Emily jumped before she turned to Mike, who looked just as freaked out. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh, it's fine, Mike." Emily laughed. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

Mike leaned on the refrigerator. "So, uh, a while back you wanted to tell me something?" Mike asked.

Emily looked up at him, surprised that he still remembered that. "Um, yes but..."

"What is it?"

"I..." Emily blushed as she thought about it.

Mike smiled. "You know, Antonio said once that you..." He cleared his throat. "Well, I'm not sure if it's true, but he said..." He cleared his throat again.

Why was he nervous? He was going to tell her he knew that she liked him wasn't he? Was he acting so weird because he didn't like her? Emily began to feel sad.

"He said that you l-"

"Hey, guys." Kevin walked by yawning, so he didn't see how they both jumped. Emily grabbed her water bottle from the fridge.

"I'm going to bed." She told them, and looked once at Mike before walking away. When she got to her room, she closed the door and leaned on it. Why had she done that? Great.

"Are you okay?" Mia asked.

Emily shook her head and told her everything that happened.

"Wow, I think he was going to-" she stopped when Emily felt her face heat up.

"What am I supposed to do now? I can't talk to him. I'm to shy."

Mia placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "You'll be fine. And when the time comes you'll be able to tell him how you feel."

"Really?"

Mia nodded. "It may sound corny, but it's true."

Emily groaned and put her head down. "I'm so embarrassed. He must think I'm weird."

"I doubt he thinks that." Mia chuckled. "Look, sleep, okay. We'll see how things are tomorrow, okay?"

Emily nodded and they both went to bed. She felt so confused and embarrassed. Mike was all she could think about. She couldn't even go to sleep. She was to preoccupied. The whole day was perfect, but then with that one moment it got ruined. She groaned and hoped tomorrow would be better.


	5. Attack

Emily glared at the ground before she stood up, wincing in pain.

"Are you okay?" Jayden asked, worried.

Emily sighed. "I'm fine, Jayden. Don't worry about me."

Mia ran over with Emily's water bottle and handed it to her. "You did great, Em. Really."

They were trying to be nice, but she knew better. She still wasn't getting better. If only she could it would help a lot.

If she could be like Jayden or Mia,-even Mike was getting stronger. She wished she could be like them. She wouldn't want to be like Kevin, he was way too strong even for her liking. And he progressed too fast. It wasn't even funny. Kevin was too good.

"Here." Mia pulled her up. "Let's take a break."

"You all did great." Jayden told them all before disappearing with Mentor.

"That guy never takes a break." mike commented, and Emily couldn't help but smile. "Be nice." She said. "He's the leader, he has to work hard."

"Well, what excuse does Kevin have?" Mike asked, pointing to the blue Ranger. "Remember when we had our day off? He didn't even want to have fun. And he's not the leader!"

"Be nice, Mike." Emily shook her head, but couldn't help but smile. She blushed and looked away. She still hadn't had the chance to talk to Mike and it was killing her. It was hard to do it, but still, she didn't think it be this hard to tell a boy you liked them. She sighed. Well, at least, Mike hadn't asked her more about it. Something that made her feel much better.

She didn't have time to celebrate. The Gap Senser went off and she groaned as Jayden ran out to meet them. "The park!"

"The park?" Emily asked, before following after the others.

The run there was easy. But when they got there, no people were around, which was good.

"What are you doing here, Nighlok?" Jayden growled.

"I just came to give you all a little visit." He eyed them all, interested. "So, I heard you were controlled by Pranktwor, red. How was that?"

"None of your business, whatever your planning, we will stop you." Jayden didn't wait. He just attacked.

Emily followed the others and they were all doing fine, until the monster cornered all of them in two. Mike and Mia were having an easy time pushing off the attacks. But Emily was getting pretty beat. Switch looked at them all, and he noticed that yellow and blue were having more trouble. He jumped in front of the Moogers and laughed. "You win."

"What?" Kevin and Emily both said, ready to attack when they suddenly felt light-headed and they fell down unconscious.

"Emily!" Mia yelled, and attacked the Moogers, angrily. "Kevin!"

"What did you do to them!" Mike demanded, already swinging his spin sword.

Switch laughed. "I just gave you all a gift."

"What?"

"Bye bye." He left before they could all stop him.

"Emily, Kevin!" Mia ran to them, worried and scared. "Wake up."

"We have to get them home." Jayden said and helped pick up Kevin.

When they got to the house Mentor Ji was already waiting with medicine and the plush stools ready for them. He checked them over three times, and all times, he found nothing wrong with them.

"Are they okay?" Mia asked, holding her hands close to her chest.

"They're fine." Mentor Ji said calmly.

"But they were attacked. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with them?" Jayden asked, confused by all of this.

"Yes, all we need to do now, is allow them to rest and when they wake up I"ll check over them again."

The four remaining Rangers nodded and looked down at the two Rangers passed out in bed.

"They'll be okay." Mia said, more to herself than to the others.

Mike wrapped a hand around her. "They will be okay, Mia. They're strong." Mike said, but felt worried about Emily and Kevin. He looked at Emily. She looked so calm and peaceful. She couldn't be hurt, could she?

* * *

Mike walked to the kitchen, where Mia was sitting down, holding a cup of milk.

"Hey, you okay?"

Mia put on a brave smile, but it was clear she was hurt. "I'm fine."

"I'm worried about them too." Mike confessed.

Mia nodded. "They'll be fine."

"They will." Mike said, and looked over his shoulder at the two sleeping Rangers. "I wonder what he did to them."

"Whatever he did, we'll get him." Mia said, gripping her cup now.

"Mia, you need to relax."

"How can you say that? Our friends were attacked. I care about them." Mia glared at Mike. "I won't relax until we get that Nighlok."

Mike nodded, not able to find any more words of assurance. He could only hope that he could see the Nighlok again, so he could also teach him a lesson.


	6. A Bad Gift

The room spun around her, but the thing that worried Emily the most was that she felt thirsty. Deciding it was better not to wake up Mia, since it was late at night, she tip-toed to the kitchen, but made it there faster than she would've thought. "What?" Emily looked around, and held her head tightly. It hurt really bad. She tried to remember what had happened, but she couldn't get any memory of Mike or Mia attacking her this hard.

She couldn't hold her thirst any longer. Grabbing a cup, she filled it with water and hummed in appreciation.

"Kevin?" Mia's voice came clear and Emily turned around expecting to see Kevin. "You're okay." Mia's face was beaming with happiness and tears before she ran into Emily's arms. It was then that she noticed she was a bit taller than before. Mia was never shorter than before.

"Mia, what are you-" Emily stopped mid speech when her eyes landed on the glass mirror that was kept in the living room and she screamed. "Oh my god." She ran toward it and stared at the reflection, before she saw herself (or her body) sit up groggily from the plush stools in the living room. "Oh no."

Emily stared at her body as it stared back at her and they both screamed.

"What's happened?" Antonio asked, groggily. Mike, Jayden and Mentor Ji were with him.

"What is this?" Emily's double asked, and Emily was sure, or almost sure, that it was Kevin since she was in his body.

"Is this a dream?" She asked herself?

Emily gulped. "A bad one?"

"Are you two okay?" Mike stepped forward. "You two look a little pale."

"We're fine." Kevin lied. "I think." Emily added, she looked down at her hands and stared awed. These were Kevin's hands.

"I think you both need to rest." Mentor Ji said and pushed them both down on the bed. Emily and Kevin never looked away from each other, fascinated and scared to be seeing each others body. It was strange.

Kevin for his own part was probably more freaked out than Emily was. He was a very grounded person, and liked to have everything in perfect order. He, a guy, being in a girl's body, it was not something he was used to having or dealing with. He needed to talk to her alone, it would be easier that way. "We need to rest...Kevin."

Emily shot him a look that said _what?_.

"We'll see you two tomorrow." Mentor Ji nodded. He was worried about them both, but if they were hurt, he couldn't see it physically. He would let them rest and hopefully when they had a good night's sleep he would be able to see what they were screaming about. He motioned for the others to leave as well. They were harder to convince, since they wanted to check over both of Emily and Kevin.

It was difficult, but with a few words from Emily (Kevin, really) they were able to leave them to rest.

When Mia was the last one to leave, Kevin sat up freaked out. "Emily, is that you?"

"No, Kevin, I'm you." Emily rolled her eyes. This was too much stressed and part of her felt like seriously crying. "what do you think happened?" Kevin shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe the Nighlok switched us? That's the only explanation I have."

Emily sighed. "Yes, you're right, Kevin. I mean how else could this have happened?"

"What are we going to do?"

Emily could see that Kevin was getting agitated, she herself felt the same way, but what could they do exactly. "We need to tell the others, fast. If there's a way out of this, we have to have help." Kevin nodded.

With their minds made up, they waited until morning when the others woke up. Emily and Kevin were laying down, trying to get some sleep, but at the sight of life they both jumped out of bed. Antonio was the lucky one to find them.

"you both scared me!" He looked glad that they were awake. Was glad actually, after Jayden had been attacked, Antonio could really use a break from all of this weird attacks. "you both okay?"

"Yeah, we are." Kevin looked up at Emily. It was so weird to see his own body. "Um, something happened when they Nighlok attacked us."

Antonio's carefree smile went away and a deep seriousness took over. He sat them down and nodded for them to continue.

"We are, sort of, in each others body's."

"What?" Antonio laughed. "Good one, amigos, but that can't be true, you're both here and maybe you got hit in the head or something. Mentor will help, I promise." He looked at them calmly. "Wait, why would you both be joking about something like that?"

"Exactly, I don't joke around Antonio!" Kevin screamed, but it came out high pitch because he was in Emily's body. "I'm in her body and she's in mine!"

"No way." Antonio looked at them. He had to admit they were acting differently. Kevin was standing awkwardly in front of him, while Emily glared at him (and it looked pretty adorable too). He sighed. "So how-how did this happen?"

Emily broke Kevin's face into a smile, glad that he believed them. "The Nighlok did it, I don't know why or how, but he did. It seems they think this would stop us, but it's not that bad actually."

Kevin nodded. "Weird, yes, but we're not harmed in anyway."

"Good, so what do we tell the others? They'll want to help and I'm sure Mentor will be able to fix this."

Emily nodded, trusting Antonio's words it was all she had.

Truth be told, when the others woke up, she felt very nervous about telling them the truth. Even Kevin looked a bit agitated, so Antonio took this opportunity into his own hand.

He knew his friends were in trouble and he did like to help so he said, "Guys, something weird happen with Emily and Kevin. They somehow got their souls in each others bodies."

"What are you saying?" Mia walked over to her friends. "Emily is in Kevin's body and vice versa." Antonio said, summing it up.

"What?" Jayden walked over, also looking them over. Worry in his eyes.

Emily nodded. "Yes, somehow that happened. It was the Nighlok, we're sure, but we just don't know how to get back into our own bodies."

"Is that why you were both screaming last night?" Mike chuckled before being glared at by Mia. "What? it was funny seeing Kevin scream like that." He laughed before Emily went to smack him. That only caused Mike to laugh harder. "See, it looks funny when...Emily does this."

The others shook their heads, but small smiles were appearing on their faces.

"What do we do, Mentor?" Jayden asked. This was a big problem. If Emily and Kevin were in each others bodies, it couldn't be a good thing. Mentor Ji had already begun searching for the Nighlok in one of the old books. He found it and read out loud. "Switch, it has the capacity to make a soul go into another person's body and keep it there permanently."

"What, permanently?" Emily and Kevin said simultaneously. The others stared at how Kevin and Emily were acting exactly the same.

"Once the two souls are switched, they will be bound together by action and words."

"What does that mean?" Emily asked.

"I'm not finished, the two people will begin to adjust to the new body and take over."

"What?" Emily was horrified by this. No way was he letting some Nighlok do this to her. Kevin looked scared and vulnerable for a second, before he shook his head.

"Is it already starting?" Kevin asked, though he knew the answer. He felt like he always did, but different. He didn't know how to explain it, it was just strange, and horrible. A nightmare.

Meanwhile, the others were both shocked and concerned by all of this.

"We have to stop him!" Mia announced, her earlier anger coming back.

"How do we do that? He could be in the Netherworld by now and purposely avoid us. He did say this was a gift." Mike said, remembering the Nighlok's words.

"Mike's right, we don't have a way to bring him out." Jayden looked at his two friends. "I've read a lot about the Nighloks, and I'm sure that if we defeat him, you two will go back to each others bodies safely."

"That may be true, Jayden, but the book says we'll adjust to the body and take over." Kevin said, distressed.

"What if we don't get him and we stay like this permanently like the book said?" Emily sighed and clenched her hands -or Kevin's hands would be better said. "We can't let that happen."

"What are we supposed to do?" Kevin asked, and looked at Emily. Emily looked back and they both felt the same exact thing: fear.


	7. Changes

**A/N: I know this was long, but I hadn't written since last Thursday and sadly, I may be a little later on my future updates. I'm losing sight of my homework and other things, because I'm focusing too much on my writing. If I don't focus again, I may never be able to use the computer again. so please, bear with me, but my updating may be a bit later than usual. Not all the time, but some times. Hope you all understand, but with no further ado, enjoy. :)**

* * *

The whole two days after Emily was in Kevin's body everyone went from worried to determined to find a way to change it. The problem laid in the fact that both Emily and Kevin were actually starting to get used to each others body and doing each others behavior. Jayden had tried to alleviate the problem by telling them that by, literally, being in another person's shoes, they would be able to experience new things. A very important lesson that Emily half-heard. Who could listen when all she could think was why did Kevin have to wake up so early. The truth was she didn't half mind going out to run, and was actually pretty good. Well, Kevin's body was, but she was used to it strangely.

Growing up in a farm, Emily had a lot of stamina and therefore she could afford to run for a long distance, but Kevin's body was focused on timing and strategy. Which, Emily soon found was actually capable of being done even while running. Leave it to Kevin to make all of this complicated.

The next time Emily was alone was when she decided to go out for a peaceful walk by the beach. Antonio was always there and Emily understood why. It was so peaceful and beautiful. She sighed and tried to feel the element of water engulf her from where she stood.

She sighed when she opened her eyes. That was another thing. Mentor Ji told them that even though water was Kevin's element, Emily's soul would still crave the familiarity of the earth, and it was vice versa with Kevin.

That was confusing to say the least, but with no attacks from any Nighlok's or Moogers, Emily was glad that she could relax, even though (by theory) she couldn't.

Mike met up with her by midday. He was smiling when he reached her.

"Hey, Em, how are you?"

Emily sighed. "Fine. I feel calm, but that's Kevin for ya."

Mike thankfully laughed at her stupid joke. Emily wavered in her thoughts before she said, "So how is Kevin?"

When Emily had left that morning, Kevin was watching t.v. and eating snacks. The first time Kevin gave in to those impulses he had locked himself in Emily and Mia's room. That was something Emily and Kevin had in common, now, anyway. They both locked themselves away from the others. The only difference was that Emily would run to the room, while Kevin would practice himself like there was no tomorrow.

Mike frowned. "Still locked up in your room."

Emily sighed and nodded. "He's really taking it harder than me."

"Of course, Kevin told me from the beginning that as a Samurai in training there were things he would never do. Now look at him, he's completely out of it."

Emily felt a pang of guilt. It wasn't her fault per se, but she had been the one who had changed spirits with Kevin. She was the one with no self-discipline, the one who from all of them, was the most different of Kevin. She could only imagine how worse this was for him than her.

"It'll be okay, Em. I promise."

Emily laughed at him. When Mike looked a bit hurt, she felt bad, but she still had to laugh. She couldn't help it. "You know how weird this must look to someone else? You talking to me like that."

"Boys talk like that to each other." Mike said with mock indignation, but the smile appearing on his lips told that he was not offended at all.

That was all Emily needed. "When they're alone? Yes, that won't hurt their manliness." She joked, smirking.

Mike laughed and shook his head.

They were walking back when all of a sudden, Emily felt this weird sense in her gut. Something was wrong. She looked around and as she did, a Mooger came out of nowhere. She pulled out Kevin's samuraizer that felt somewhat familiar to her, and as she tried to morph, she was surprised to see that she couldn't.

"Emily!" Mike screamed and she looked up from her fumbling fingers to see a Mooger ready to attack. She jumped back and kicked him as hard as she could. Her kick was perfect. She almost smiled in victory, but then other Moogers surrounded her. Her eyes traveled quickly to see Mike fighting as many as he could, but he was nowhere near able to help her. Desperate and with her heart beating out her chest, Emily did the only thing she could, she got a stick from the ground and used it to defend herself.

They fought dirty, kicking and pulling from whatever opening Emily had. She panted and blocked all of them, but the more she did, the more broken the stick got.

Just as she was about to be over run by them all, the Moogers were attacked. She almost breathed in relief when Jayden came to her rescue. She didn't waste time to thank him, she attacked as fiercely as she could, earning herself some well-earned pats in the back for later, when they all just disappeared.

Mia ran over to her, and with no questions asked, checked her over. "You're okay." she said more to herself when her search was done. Emily would've laughed had she not been to tired.

"Let's go back." Jayden told them all, and with silence they all followed him to the Shiba house.

It was only when she got the the house that she realized Kevin hadn't been with them at all. He was sitting in the couch, keeping _her _blond hair in a low ponytail. He stood up worry in his eyes. It was weird to tell each other apart, how were they going to know who was which. I mean, it was Emily's body, but Kevin was in there, so it got kinda confusing. Mentor settled everything down when he told them that the best way to do this was to make sure that they just called Emily 'Kevin' and Kevin 'Emily'. A simple plan and it worked.

Kevin sighed and had to keep himself from hugging the others. For the last day, he had lost almost all of his natural self-discipline. He was almost proud, but now he was feeling the effects of being in Emily's body. He wanted to hug them all and never let them go. He was worried about them. When they had all heard the Gap Sensor go off, they were all morphing and were surprised when he couldn't morph. Mentor thought it better for him to stay in the house and be safe, but that didn't go well with him. He was more worried when he thought of Emily being there, and if he couldn't morph then...

His fears were all answered when out of all of them, Emily was the one who looked even more beat up and tired. He felt like he wanted to do anything to make this all go away, but no there was no difference when he opened his eyes.

He sighed and sat with the others in the meeting that he knew would seal his fate for ever.

"You two can't fight," Jayden told both Kevin and Emily. His face was completely free of any emotion, but they all knew their leader by know. He was worried, but he wasn't going to show it.

Kevin closed his eyes as he heard this. He already knew as soon as he couldn't morph that he and Emily would not be allowed to go fight with the others.

"That's not fair, Jayden!" Emily looked at Kevin for support but to her shock, she found him looking down at his folded hands on his lap and not even bothering to argue with the decision. "Kevin..." She began, not believing this.

"It's for the best, Em." Mike said, and for the first time since she had met him, his eyes were cool, detached. There was no trace of the nice, friendly guy she liked.

It broke her heart that none of them wanted her to help. She didn't even look at Mia or Antonio. It would only make matters worse. So with a heavy heart she went outside to practice, but no sooner had she stepped outside did the tears begin to fall. 'I'm in Kevin's body, respect that.' Her mind told her forcefully, but she kept on crying. The sorrows and hurt she felt mingled together with Kevin's fierce need to defend his friends and be a Samurai until Emily felt like she would suffocate under all those feelings. She grabbed a training sword and swung madly at the training dummy.

The effect was not the desired one. She stood there as her training sword broke in two and felt herself fall to her knees. She felt like she was watching this happen to someone else and not to herself. When the tears finally came, Emily broke down.

She was a good Samurai, she wanted to believe that, and she was. The all told her that, but now, it all seemed useless like it all had been in her imagination. It was all stupid now. Emily would always be the weak one, and even in Kevin's body she would still be the weakest link.

Faintly, she remembered thinking that if she could trade places with any of the others, she wouldn't have wanted it to be Kevin. He was too strong, yes, but the truth was that Emily felt intimidated by the great blue Ranger. He worked harder than Jayden sometimes, and only just so he could catch up to Jayden. It was enough to make her jealous. He was everything she wasn't and the more she stayed in his body the more she felt like she hated herself.

Serena was supposed to come to this place, she was the one who was supposed to be the yellow Ranger. Emily just got lucky when her dear sister got sick. Would Serena not been sick, Emily would be back home being made fun of and never leaving her farm except for when her Mom asked her to go buy some groceries.

Emily never traded places with Serena, nor would she want to for that matter, Serena was great. But she was now here, dealing with Nighlok's and Master Xandred, to weak to even touch him. Emily had noticed many times that when someone was hurt (and she was the one who usually got hurt) it was only because they were protecting her. They were being held back by her. She was nothing more than a burden.

"I know you're thinking bad things, stop it." Mia snapped, no longer able to see her friend torture herself. She had sneaked outside and was going to console her friend when she noticed that Emily had that same look in her face, the one where she was beating herself on the inside. It was remarkable how, even in Kevin's body, Emily could still pull of that look.

Emily stood up from the ground and accepted the water bottle from the glaring Mia. "I'm not thinking anything bad."

Mia scoffed. "Sure, you're not." She patted the seat next to her and Emily sat down with a heavy sigh. "Talk to me, what's wrong?"

Emily shook her head. "I..." She bit her lip. "I don't think I was meant to be a Samurai."

Mia's angry face softened and she didn't need to hear more to hug Emily. "You know that's not true."

"No, Mia, I really don't think I'm good like you guys. I just don't know if I can do it."

Mia sighed and looked up at the sky. "That makes two of us."

"What?" Emily looked at Mia shocked.

Mia gave her a soft, sad smile. "I don't think I'm doing any good here either. To be completely honest, I sometimes think that everyone fits in here better than me." She sighed. "I'm not even a good cook."

Emily looked away then. It wasn't a lie that Mia couldn't cook, but Mia loved cooking despite that little fact. Emily wasn't going to be the one who would assure her that her dreams of cooking were over and done with.

"I know it's the truth." Mia laughed lightly, which shocked Emily a little. "I mean, it's hard not to catch on every time the guys look dead afraid of me mentioning cooking." At this, Mia really had to laugh. It was hurtful in the beginning, but the more she honestly looked at the situation, and understood that she was a bad cook, the easier it was to not get hurt. To be an added bonus, Mia got a kick out of their priceless expressions whenever she mentioned cooking. "I know it's hard for you to be here, it probably is for all of us, but remember that you have us. We can help each other through this."

Emily nodded. In her mind, she thought of everything that Mia had just confessed. It was such a strange truth to know that the caring, and nice pink Ranger felt like she did. In Emily's eyes she was great. More than great, she was awesome. But it seemed even she felt a bit bad about being here. Emily didn't see why, but was glad that she was no longer the only one who was sad.

Emily hugged Mia, and surprising the pink Ranger, she blushed. When Emily pulled away, she was starting to smile, but seeing her red face, her smile slowly faded.

"Mia, are you okay?" Emily asked, concerned.

Mia nodded, coughing as a cover up to her blushing.

Why was Mia acting like that? It wasn't like she didn't hug her all the time. To be honest, Emily was the most huggable person out there. She liked hugging her friends, it was comforting. So why was Mia acting so strange now? The only difference was that she was in Kevin's body...oh.

A wicked smile formed on Kevin's face, and Mia felt horrified.

"You like Kevin!"

Mia blushed more fiercely and could not help the laugh that escape, despite her embarrassment. It was weird to see Kevin talking about himself, but this was what happened when Mia didn't focus on how Emily was in his body. She glared at _Emily._

"I do not."

Emily gently shoved her. "Oh come on, you know I like Mike. Tell me the truth." Emily smiled wider. "You _love_ him. Kevin and Mia sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-" Mia glared at her as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Will you be quiet! They might hear you!"

Emily noticed how not once did Mia deny Emily's words. She smiled behind Mia's hand and gently pushed it away.

"You do like him."

Mia blushed and groaned.

"I do..." It was possible, her face was beet red and getting redder, if that was even possible.

"Okay, relax. It's okay." Emily said, seriously. Not wanting Mia to get hurt by all of this, somehow.

"It's just strange." Mia breathed in. "I feel like I'm actually telling him that I like him."

Emily gasped. "I'm sorry, I forgot I was in his body for a second."

"It's okay." Mia smiled at her. "But next time, try not to make it sound like you were making fun of me. It looked like Kevin was making fun of me for my feelings."

Emily felt bad then. "I'm sorry, Mia. I was making fun of you, but I never meant for you to get hurt."

Mia sighed. This was going to go on forever if she didn't stop it. "Don't worry about it." she smiled. "So, you don't think it's weird?"

"Why would I think it's weird?" Emily asked honestly.

"Well, I like him, but he's so focused on his Samurai training. I feel like he won't take me seriously if I told him how I felt."

"That was ironic. He's serious and yet he wouldn't take you seriously."

"Sorry, I'm just really nervous right now."

Emily smiled at her sweetly. But then remembering she was the cause of her being so nervous, she looked away. "Sorry, I forget."

"It's okay. I can't wait until you two are back in each others bodies. It'll be much easier talking to you."

Emily laughed and nodded. "That's true. I kinda miss my own bed too." When Mia smirked and was about to talk, Emily placed a hand over her mouth. "Kevin sleeps with you too, so we're even."

Mia blushed again, and Emily smirked. She knew her friend was about to make fun of the fact that she was sleeping in the same room as her crush, but she wasn't going to just take it. With the moon light shining up the sky, Emily frowned. She thought about how long she would stay in Kevin's body and if they would ever return to their own.


	8. Back to Normal

Emily balanced herself on the ground before rolling her eyes at the barely weeping Kevin. "I'm sorry for not making you feel better."

Kevin had tried to ask for some support from Emily, and she was ready to help him, but now that she was getting really annoyed with the whole being in Kevin's body situation she couldn't focus.

She was ready to hug her until she felt better, but then Jayden walked outside, a book in hand.

"I found some very interesting things. According to some of the history books, your samuraizers should work on yourselfs, but seeing as how you both have connected with your zords, I think we were looking at this the wrong way."

"What?" Emily and Kevin both said, confused.

Jayden sighed. He thought for a second trying to find the right words to help his friends understand what was happening, and how they could fix the situation.

Before he could get any words out, the Gap Sensor went off and they all looked up as the others walked out the door, and waited for Jayden's orders.

"We'll just have to watch and see."

"What?" Emily confused, but excited when Jayden motioned for her and Kevin to follow the others didn't question anything until they were in the park. And Switch was there. She glared at him, angry with him, with this whole thing.

"Switch samurizers." Jayden ordered.

Emily and Kevin look at each other confused. "Jayden," Kevin begins.

"We have to try." Emily nodded, ready to trust Jayden.

They switch samuraizers and as they all say, "Samurizers, go, go samurai." Emily and Kevin both held their breath, but to their great surprise. A surge of power went through them and they both morphed. "What?" Kevin laughed happily as he stood there, still in Emily's body but in Ranger form.

Emily was as ecstatic as him, as she stood tall and proud in her yellow Ranger suit. She pulled out her sword and days of frustration harnessed inside of her as she said, "Let's kick some Nighlok butt!"

Kevin joined her and together they attacked the Nighlok.

_PRS PRS PRS_

It didn't take long for them to beat the nighlok and by the second life, Emily and Kevin were both in each other's body. They both happily celebrated, before having to trade samuraizers again, and then having to attack in Megazrod form.

When they all got back to the Shiba house everyone was happy.

"You guys totally kicked that Nighlok's butt!" Mike said, mimicking some of the moves they had made.

"He's right, you guys were great." Mia agreed, hugging Emily tightly to her.

"Very... fantastico." Antonio smirked.

Jayden allowed them to celebrate before clearing his throat and saying. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who is glad that you both are back in each other's bodies, but before it gets back to normal, I would like to say that no matter what would have happened, you both would still be part of this team."

Emily and Kevin simultaneously hugged Jayden and that made a good old group hug to commence.

"Thank you." Kevin began, "but we know that if we didn't get back into each other's bodies you would have to look for two new Rangers. I'm just glad it didn't happen like that."

"We are too, Kevin." Jayden said, clapping a hand on his back. "We are too." The others again agreed and another group hug began.

_PRS PRS PRS PRS_

Emily sighed when she sat back into her bed and looked around her old stuff. Well, her stuff, but she had really gotten used to Kevin's stuff that she felt weird around her own. A knock came to her door and she said, "It's open."

She thought it was Mia, who usually knocked on the door whenever she thought that Emily was asleep, so Emily didn't think twice about getting some of her underwear to change into after her shower when she heard, "I'm sorry!"

She slammed the drawer and turned to see Mike standing there, a bit red and looking up at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were changing."

Emily blushed too, but didn't say anything.

"I just came to check on you. Kevin's being a bit moody, so I thought that you would have some side effects." Mike explained, the blush reaching his ears. He had seen bra's before, so why was this any different. He didn't know, but it felt really awkward.

"Oh no. I'm fine. No side effects here." Emily joked around.

Mike willed himself to look up at her and blushed slightly. "So you okay?"

"Yeah. And you?"

Mike smirked. "Never better. I'm just glad that you're okay."

Emily blushed, and chuckled slightly. She wasn't going to lie, it felt really good that Mike was here.

Mike sighed, "I think I should go now, so youcan rest."

"You don't have to." Emily blurted out. _I can't believe I just said that. _Emily screamed in her head.

Mike only smiled and sat on the bed. "Well, as long as you're okay."

Emily smiled and decided that she wanted to be the first one to talk. "I feel really special right now. Going from a boys body right back to mind. Good stuff."

Mike laughed at her weak joke but she still appreciated it.

"Yeah, you're special." Mike said, but Emily quickly disagreed. "No, I'm not special."

"Yes, Emily, you really are." Mike said, more serious than she would have expected him to be.

Emily blushed and tried not to look at him, but she knew that he could see her blush. His smile made her feel much better and for that second she was glad that she had been in Kevin's body. If she hadn't she wouldn't have this great moment right now.

**A/N: I know I haven't written in a long time, but I'm going to try and get better at it. I was surprised that I could use the computer again, because it kinda stopped working. I want to say a lot of things but none of the really come to mind right now. My writing may be a little bad, I wanted this chapter to be more dramatic, but I enjoyed writing it this way. I know that it's short though. So sorry.**

**~* Please Review *~**


	9. Orders

**A filler chapter since I'm sort of out of writing shape. Hope you guys like it though. It mainly focuses on Mike and Emily dynamic or whatever. :)**

Emily bit her lip as she and Mike practiced. Ever since the whole, Emily's-in-Kevin's-body and-vice-versa, Mike had been extra attentive. Part of her enjoyed the attention, it made her feel like she liked him. And who was she to not like that attention? She did have a giant crush on him.

She lost balance, but Mike caught her and Emily blushed.

"You're getting better, Em." He said with an encouraging smile.

"Thanks, Mike." She said softly, before looking down. She wished she knew how to talk to him sometimes though.

Mike saw the young girl struggle and he looked up when he saw that Jayden was there looking at them both. He tried not to look to bothered and worried, but when Jayden called him, Mike sighed.

"Mike can I talk to you please?" Jayden called.

Mike followed him inside. Kevin and Mia stopped practicing, and along with Antonio and Emily, watched the two boys leave.

"I'm sure it's nothing wrong." Mia said with a gentle smile.

"You think?"

Kevin looked at the others, and when both Mia and Antonio gave him a look that said he better not say the wrong thing, he just opted to nod. When he had been in Emily's body, he learned of her feelings for him. It wasn't hard, he was in her body and he had also heard Mia and Emily talk about him.

He sighed. "Let's just continue to practice." He picked up a wooden sword and the others followed suit.

_PRS PRS PRS PRS_

"Something you need to talk to me about man?" Mike said with an easy smirk.

"What are your intentions with Emily?" Jayden asked.

"What?" Jayden narrowed his eyes.

"What are your intentions with Emily?" Jayden repeated himself. "It's clear to me that there is something underlying your actions. Mentor Ji has not noticed, but I don't think he would approve."

"And why not?" Mike asked, face red in anger.

"Because it gets in the way of the mission. It's well understood that if Dekker, or Master Xandred were to find out about your feelings he would use them against not only you, but all of us. It puts everyone in danger."

"That's not going to happen, Jayden. You have to understand that."

"How can I be sure of that?"

"Because I won't let Emily believe that there is a chance between us." Mike said calmly.

Jayden felt torn at hearing those words. He had sworn on an oath that he would do everything in his will to save the world from Nighloks and Master Xandred, but when he saw that Mike and Emily shared an interest, Jayden had to stop it. There was no way that it would work out. It didn't even compute in his mind.

"Mike, I don't want you to do anything drastic. Just I'll change you to practice with Kevin. You need the practice so it won't be noticeable as to why the change happened."

Mike nodded to Jayden's words.

"I'm sorry Mike, really." Jayden said softly.

Mike nodded and left, head held high as he tried to think of everything that had just happened. He went to his room, and locked himself there.

_PRS PRS PRS PRS_

"What did you do?" Mia asked Jayden when it was clear that Mike was avoiding Emily.

"Nothing." Jayden said softly.

Mia glared at him angrily before leaving. Antonio stepped out from where he had been in the hallway and watched Jayden quietly.

"It wasn't my intention." Jayden said, not even bothering to know what Antonio had in mind.

"It's not a big deal, Jayden, but you've just made it a big deal." Antonio said softly. Jaydne looked up, surprised, but Antonio walked away leaving Jayden alone with his thoughts.

_PRS PRS PRS PRS_

"What did he tell you?" Mia asked when she found Mike alone.

"What do you think?" Mike snapped, then closed his eyes. "Sorry." He said with a roll of his eyes.

Mia sighed and sat on the bed. "Look, he's looking out for you two, nothing wrong with that. The problem is that now Emily and you aren't going to be able to relax around each other."

"I..."

"You..."

"Jayden doesn't know anything. I care about Em, Mia, but I would never do or try antyhing with her. I know what it would mean. Her life could be at risk, all of you would be in danger. I'm not that stupid even though I look it...Don't look so surprised Mia. I think too."

Mia laughed. "God, Mike, do you hear yourself? This is probably the most insightful I've heard you speak. Sorry, I don't mean to be mean, but it's surprising."

Mike smirked. "The fool is the one that isn't taken seriously. That's how the fool wins."

"You're right." Mia sighed. "I'm sorry for what Jayden did."

"I am too."

_PRS PRS PRS PRS_

"You told him not to talk to me huh?" Emily said when she went to talk to Jayden.

"It was for your safety." Jayden said quietly.

"Nothing would ever happen between us." Emily said sadly. "But I know why you did it anyway. I understand."

"Thank you, Emily...and...I know he has feelings for you. I wouldn't have done anything if I didn't think there wasn't a possibility of Mike having feelings for you."

Emily blushed a deep red, but only nodded and left. When she was alone in the hallway her heart beat fast. Did Mike really like her? A slight thrill of happiness ran through her, before she frowned sadly. They couldn't be together...

Emily shook her head. She needed to get her head straight. She went outside and practiced with Mia. Mike practiced with Kevin, and they all felt the tension in the air.

**Sad, weird chapter. It's been a while and I am sorry, but I really want to write finish this story so i will. :)**


	10. Mystery Nighlok

**I had to update. Emily sounded a bit ooc from the show, but I can really see her being like this. She's a strong girl.:) anyway, hope you guys like it. **

Emily took a bite of her apple, the sweet tangy taste ran down her throat as she watched Jayden. He was sitting in the living room. The silence of him reading letting her know that this was where Jayden belonged. He liked it there. She narrowed her eyes slightly, but then sighed and took another bite.

"Are you done watching me?" Jayden asked out of the blue. Emily wanted to be surprised, but she knew how Jayden was. There really was no option.

"No."

Jayden looked up with a sort of annoyed look. Apparantly Emily had bothered him in the best part of the book or something. Well good. He deserved it.

"I'm not sure you undestand why I had to tell Mike to keep away from you."

"I don't want to hear it, Jayden. It's not important anyway." Emily sighed and bit her lip.

Hearing herself say that- It was true. There was no importance to her feelings for Mike. Maybe Jayden had thought that he had feelings for her, but Emily would never be sure. Not when Jayden had ordered Mike not to react to her feelings.

Emily wanted to tell him that he had no right- It was embarrasing to have him to this, but... She bit her lip again. The reason was that it could put all of them and their mission in danger, but was that a good enough reason for Jayden to butt into their business and act like he knew better than them?

That was what made Emily angry.

"You made sure it wasn't important. Just orderring Mike around like that. I bet you he didn't even like me."

Jayden watched her calmly. Emily huffed and continued.

"Why did you even do it?"

"For the good of the team...to keep you both safe...I'm sure nothing would suffice."

"And you're right..." Emily turned and left, throwing her apple in the garbage bin as she left.

Practicing for hours on end didn't help as much as Emily would have wanted, but it kept her mind away from thoughts she could easily do without. But as she practiced she didn't give notice to the person who had joined her. She knew they were there, but thinking it was Mia or Kevin, she kept on practicing, until she paused to regain her cool and turned to find Mike standing there.

"Hey." He said with a smile.

Emily panted before slowly breaking into a small smile herself. "What are you doing here? I thought we weren't supposed to talk?" She joked, but felt a pang of anger run through her. It was all directed to Jayden and she felt renewed.

"Apparantly, it's okay for us to talk, not to...date."

Emily sighed and for the first time in her life, looked at Mike in the eyes with a confidence she did not know she possessed.

"I'm sorry for all of this. For me liking you." Mike shook his head, but Emily ignored him. "All of this could have gone better had I not liked you in the beginning."

"Em, you have to remember this isn't your fault. In any case, what Jayden is doing...he's only trying to protect us."

"I know!" She snapped and closed her eyes, breathing in to regain her cool. "But it's stupid. He...I shouldn't have ever liked you. None of this would have happened if I hadn't liked you."

Mike stared at her surprised, before a small smile eased itself into his lips. "Em, it's not you, believe me."

Emily watched as he left, before thinking back on her words and she blushed furiously. Had she really, for the first time, openly, admitted her feelings for him? They were out in the open already, there was no chance of her hiding them had she wanted to.  
She growled under her breath, cheeks red and her heart beating fast as she grabbed the wooden sword and began to swing it with immense force. Emily glared at the post and hit it again, again, again. Jayden's face came into it and Emily could not contain herself anymore. She began to scream as she unleashed all her feelings into the post.  
When she was spent, she took a few steps back, dropped the sword, then proceeded to drop to the ground as well. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing. She took a drink from the water, the cool rush of water running down her throat more welcoming than anything she would ever imagine.

She sighed satisfied and set the bottle down.

"Are you okay?"

Emily nodded, but she wasn't sure yet. She looked at Mia with a small smile. "I'm fine."  
"You didn't look fine a moment ago." Mia paused. "I don't think I've ever seen you so angry." Mia said softly.

Emily looked away from her friend. She didn't want to tell her why she was so angry. It didn't feel right. It didn't feel right to talk bad about Jayden.

"I know how furstrating this is, Emily, but you have to understand." Mia shook her head, almost like she wished she wasn't saying them at all, before she continued. "Jayden only wants to help."

"I know..I'm just angry at myself." Emily said, thinking quickly of what she had just said. It didn't sound like the truth, but it felt real. "Angry that I was so stupid. I liked Mike and all this mess happened because of it."

Mia looked at Emily surprised, before she laughed gently. "Emily you know that the only reason Jayden did that was because Mike really likes you."

"Yeah he mentioned that." Emily mumbled blushing.

Mia frowned. "Well, why aren't you happy then? Sure the occasion doesn't call for it, but the guy that you like likes you back. Try to be a little more happy."

Emily glared at Mia. And it seemed that was what Mia needed to see the light. Emily took another drink from her bottle.

"You don't think he likes you?"

"How can I?" Emily asked softly. "Just because you and Jayden think, or feel, or whatever you want to call it, doesn't mean that Mike actually likes me. The only one who can tell me that is himself."

Mia frowned, then crossed her arms over her chest. "Then you should talk to him."  
"No, I already made this mess, I don't need to make it worse."

"Nothing bad will happen if you just talk to him." Mia said calmly.

Emily was about to answer that yes, many bad things happened when the Gap Sensor went off and Emily and Mia looked at each other panicked. They ran to the living room and stood watchignt the city map.

"It's not there..." Mentor said surprised.

Emily squinted her eyes, but there was no dot that indicated the Nighlok was there. But still, the Gap Sensor was going off, making Emily's already troubled head hurt.  
"W-what do we do?" Kevin asked unsure and for the first time, looking really off of it.  
Jayden looked through the map twice, but came with no answer. The Gap Sensor never went off.

"Do we just go in groups?" Antonio asked.

"There's a lot of Gap Sensor's it would take hours just to go through them all. I think we need to wait."

"Wait?" Everyone gasped and stared at Jayden.

"What else can we do? The map isn't showing the Nighlok. We'll be blind if we go around like this."

The others looked at each other uncomfortably as the leader and Menter walked away, talking to themselves as if arguing.

"This is weird." Emily said to no one in specific.

"What can it be?" Kevin then asked.

"Whatever it is, it's really good." Antonio studied the map. Emily eyed the map as well, but it seemed that this elusive Nighlok was never going to be found.

**Okay this was different, but i really liked it, hope you guys do too. :)**

**~* Please Review *~**


	11. Dreams

**sorry I didn't update sooner, that was my bad. This is probably the longest, most confusing chapter so far, so if it doesn't make sense, I'm sorry. I hope you guys like it though, I certainly enjoyed writing it. This is huge man, I really enjoyed this. :)**

"We can't just wait around like its no big deal." Kevin told no one in particular, his face showed his mixed feelings before he sauntered off in the direction Mentor and Jayden had just went.

Emily sighed, her own confusion clouding her thoughts, but she pressed that feeling in the back of her mind and looked down at the map, unblinking. Seconds passed, the Gap Sensor was still going off, where was it? Where was it?

And like an answer to her question, a red dot formed then disappeared.

She gasped loudly and gripped at the person standing by her. Mia turned to her surprised, before looking down at the map.

"Emily, what is it? Did you see something?" Emily tried not to blink, she narrowed her eyes, and for a second didn't breath. Her mind was loud with silence, and then she released the breath she had been holding, was it all in her mind.

"It's not there anymore."

"You saw something?" Antonio leaned down, trying to see what Emily had just seen, but it was useless. It was long gone now. Emily closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What was it?"

"It was a Nighlok alright." Emily sighed, her face felt hard, she was frowning, her eyes burned with unshed tears as she tried not to blink. "I saw it, but it disappeared."

Antonio and Mia looked at each other. Mike was the only one silently looking down at the map.

"Where was it?" He asked quietly. Emily pointed to the edge of a mountain, where everything seemed fine now.

"There." She whispered, voice barely heard.

"Then let's go." Mike lead the way, and Emily momentarily stared after him, her body frozen, but made herself move.

"We have to tell Jayden."

"I don't think we should; anyway, he's been busy telling us things. I'm sure he's busy right now too." Mike said bitterly. Emily blinked in surprise, before stopping and staring as he opened the door. "Well..." He looked at his three Rangers. "Are you staying or coming?"

Emily didn't turn to look at the others, she followed her frayed instincts and stepped after Mike. The reassuring steps of Mia and Antonio made the knot in her stomach lessen, but not by a lot. They reached the mountain, it was bright and earthy.

Emily smiled despite her guilt of having left without telling Jayden or Mentor. Being out here in the earth, it made everything better.

"Seems fine to me." Mike said quietly, but there was an edge to his voice. Emily looked around, grabbing her samuraizer, the cool feel of it sending reassuring waves into her. She stepped forward and was looking down a steep trail, when a gust of wind came to her and she froze.

"Did you feel that?" Antonio asked quietly, pulling out his blade. Emily and the others followed suit and then it became a game of I spy. The world around them rotated making Emily's head hurt, she gasped gripping at it, and then she felt the world cave in under her.

She screamed, but was heard by no one. She looked around in a rush, and realized with a panic that she was alone. Where were the others? They were right there before.

She didn't have time to really think things through. She closed her eyes and tried to relax her beating heart, right when she knew it was time for impact, she opened her eyes and landed swiftly on the ground. She looked around in a daze. She was back in the mountain, it was as if she had not fallen into the ground after all.

Then she saw it.

She grabbed for her sword, but it was long gone. She let her surprise momentarily stall her and when she returned her attention to the see-through Nighlok she was in front of her. Emily breathed in afraid, and tried to grab for her samuraizer, anything. She didn't have anything.

"Well, aren't you a young one?" It said, his faceless mask a weird shape.

"Where are we? What are you?" Emily demanded to know. Her fear escalated to unknown levels and she paced back, trying to preserve some space between them. That was her only comfort and ally now. The faceless Nighlok cocked its head to the left, watching Emily still.

"Who are you?"

"Where are my friends?"

"They're okay." The Nighlok said, "But I'm going have fun with you."

"What-" Emily was thrown off when the world shone around her and she felt like gagging. She fell to her knees, and held on to her head. It was useless, the pain was inside of her now. She cried out in pain and the tears trickled down, blending with her sweat. Crops of hair stuck to her forehead and cheeks, and in the back of her mind, faintly, she found this feeling uncomfortable. "Let me go!" She screamed, but it was as if her voice was only a whisper, she could not hear it. "Please, please. Stop!" The world went black and Emily fell into another world of darkness.

* * *

Mike avoided the sensation of falling as he hugged himself. He had expected something like this to happen, and not being the air Ranger, falling down at such an incredible pace made his heart flutter, only for a second. He stopped as soon as he was close to the floor. Mike stared at the gound in shock, before the weight keeping him up, gave in under him and he fell the last inches to the ground.

He groaned as he stood up, cleaning himself of his dirt and looked around. He was back in the Shiba House. He looked around, feeling like all of this was real- it was real.

Mike walked down the hall to Jayden's room, full of intention to tell him what had happened. He opened the door only to find Jayden there talking to Emily seriously. When he saw the smile on Emily's face, Mike allowed himself to smile back, but the cold glare Jayden gave him, it stopped him in his tracks, but shaking himself out of that feeling, he stepped forward.

"Jayden, something strange happened."

"What happened?" Emily asked, interrupting. Mike looked at her, taking a real good look. Didn't see remember what had just happened only seconds ago. The gasp and a delicate hand going to her opened mouth told him that she was not aware. But how?

"What happened?" Jayden asked, voice more cold and calculating. Mike looked between them both, momentarily stunned. What was going on? The light in the room coming from the mirror was blinding him. Some of the sunlight that his his arm was burning into him. He felt like he was on fire.

"We went to find the Nighlok and-"

"What?" Both Jayden and Emily gasped.

"Emily, Antonio, Mia and me, we went after the Nighlok. Em, don't you remember? It only happened seconds ago." Mike asked, but his voice became quieter with the looks on Emily's and Jayden's face. Emily's face flushed red and she looked at Jayden guiltily. Jayden, in turn, glared coldly at Mike, before stepping in between Emily and Mike.

"I told you to stay away from Emily."

"Hey, man, I didn't do anything. Anyway, Antonio and Mia were there too."

"What are you talking about? Mia and Antonio aren't here." Jayden said, his cold eyes changed to those of someone in great pain.

"What?" Mike asked quietly. He looked between Emily and Jayden, who both were looking away from him. Jayden stepped back lightly, and took Emily's hand in his. He gave her a sweet, loving smile, one that Emily quickly returned. Mike stared in shock as the scene fell before him. "What?" He asked again, more to himself than anything. That caught Jayden's attention and he glared at Mike.

"Stay away from my wife, Mike. I won't allow you to hurt her again."

Mike could only stare at him. His heart quickened and he looked behind at Emily, who was looking back with a broken expression. She looked away and he tried to breath.

"No." He shook his head. "Emily's not your wife, she likes me."

"She liked you. Not anymore." Jayden once again took Emily's hand in his, playing with it. Emily only sat there, like a doll. "She realized that I was better for her. How could I not be? I didn't kill our friends." He said harshly, glaring accusingly at Mike. Mike felt the air leave his lungs, his heart beat faster, trying to pump air to go through him, but Mike could not do it. He stared at the couple before him and the scene changed as everything exploded in fire before him. He tried to jump and help Jayden and Emily, but they only looked at each other in the eyes, ignoring the chaos around them.

Mike breathed in a choked gasp, the fumes of the fire still bright and real in his mind. His eyes and nose burned from the smoke and he coughed wildly as he filled his lungs with most needed fresh air. He looked around and he was again at the Shiba house, but now he was in the garden. The many different colors of the flowers bringing new life to the house, who seconds ago was burning up. Mike stared at the house in foreboding, before trekking his way forward, holding his breath.

"Hey- Are you guys there?" He asked the seemingly calm house, it looked perfectly calm on the outside.

"Mike, come over here, fast!" He heard Mia scream. His senses went into overdrive and he ran to the back where, to his surprise, there was a formal event happening. There were a lot of chairs and most of the Ranger's family were there. Everyone was dressed elegantly. Mike breathed in, trying to fill his mind with this information, when he saw the most beautiful person of all. Emily- she was in a yellow dress, sleeveless and hanging softly to her every curve. Mike watched her in open awe, his eyes never straying off of her, and that was his mistake, because next to her was Jayden. He was holding her possessively toward him and that sent Mike into a fury of anger.

"What?"

Emily smiled sweetly at him, and pulled him in closer to the group of strangers, among them were the rest of the rangers, but they looked different, like they weren't themselves. Mike's mind could not tell the difference, so he just allowed Emily to pull him in, "I'm so glad you're here, Mike."

"What's going on?" He asked, more to himself then to the others. He looked around, everything was in bright colors, whatever they were celebrating had to be good.

"Mike, are you okay?" Emily asked worried. Jayden stepped over and he too, looked at Mike worried. "Don't you remember? Jayden and I are getting married. After Master Xandred was defeated we were finally free to be with each other."

"Each other?" Mike's ears rang as the world stopped moving and he felt sick. "Married?" Emily's face twisted around, like it wasn't real, but then formed back. Mike was too lost in his thoughts to notice.

The group around him, swarmed closer until he couldn't breath anymore. He tried to gasp for breath, but then everything went black and he was pulled in all different directions by the group of people. Emily watched with a smirk, she let Jayden go forward and then transformed to her natural state. It was a Nighlok, she tried to not laugh, but the misery the boy was feeling was more than she could handle and she laughed, enjoying the way the boy's weakness left him open for her to snatch his delicate mind. Now, to find the others.

* * *

"Are you really going to keep your promise?" Antonio's young voice asked as he looked at Jayden with awe and hope.

"Yes." Jayden said with a firm nod. Antonio smiled.

"Thank you Jayden."

The picture shifted and soon Antonio was older, wiser, stronger, he was with Jayden after he had talked to Mike about staying away from Emily.

"Why did you do that?" He asked quietly, not sure if Jayden would even listen, but didn't care if he did or not. Jayden would hear him out. Jayden opened his eyes, snapping out of his small moment of meditation and fixed his eyes on Jayden.

"Why don't you ask yourself that?"

"What?" Antonio felt his face drop as he stared. The way Jayden looked at him, it was unnerving. He looked away and got of the table he was sitting on. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Jayden scoffed. "You can lie to the others, but you can't lie to me." He smirked evilly. Antonio stared, not able to make any of this make sense. "You agree with me, don't you? You don't want them to be together." He paused an amused smirk on his face. "But not because you want us to be safe, like I want." He stepped closer, Antonio tried to stay in place, but part of him didn't want to listen to this. He backed away until his wall was pressed to the wall and Jayden was right in front of him, their faces only a breath away. "You reason is selfish, you're jealous."

"What?" Antonio's face heated up and he glared at his best friend. "That's not true. Why would I even be jealous of either of them?"

"Because they have what they want." Jayden said softly. "What do you want, Antonio?" He asked, voice soft and soothing. Antonio's hands began to tremble, his heart was pounding, he couldn't think straight. Since when did Jayden behave like this? He was more controlled, he wouldn't do this?

""I want you to leave me alone." He gasped out and as soon as he did, a heavy weight in his mind had lifted. It was like he wasn't as sluggish as before. With his mind sharper he glared at Jayden. "You're not him. I know Jayden, you're not him!" He pushed against him and fell forward as the body in front of him disappeared. He quickly got up and allowed his senses to tell him where he was. Whatever it was.

"Tell me what you want, Antonio." A voice cooed, a female voice, sickly sweet. Antonio felt panic when he heard it. His stomach rolled and he began to feel sick. The room began to spin and he realized that whatever had him here, was using his good perception against him. Everything was sharper, stronger, more vivid. It felt like a dream.

"I want to get out. Let me go." Antonio said calmly, letting the enemy know that she was winning would not help his case. The voice laughed.

"Why don't I tell you what you want since you're so resilient to not do it yourself." A brief pause and she began. "You admire him, don't you. More than you should. You put him in a pedestal. He's basically like you're God." Antonio shook his head to all of this, but he could not push away from wherever he was. "You want him to be happy, don't you? But you know you can't do anything for him. It's a curse to be a Ranger." Antonio's head began to pound and tears came to his eyes, he dropped to his knees and grabbed his head to make the pressure go away. "Want me to tell you what you really want? What you try so hard to hide-"

"STOP!"

"I'm not done yet." The voice said coldly before Antonio was screaming in pain, the sheer power of it all was too much. The Nighlok formed again, and once again, was in the form of Jayden, who smirked down at him. "You should have never figured it out. You could have been happy here. Now, all you have is pain." Antonio screamed, as the pain became unbearable.

* * *

Mia was the only one who knew that she was not really there. She was watching herself play with the kids from the school, in the playground. Her heart tightened as she wished she could go back, but something told her she couldn't. She had a responsibility. What was it?

"Mia?" Mia looked up to see a shadow behind her. She stood up quickly, and let her instincts do all the work. She had the person pinned down in less than a second, when she saw that it was only Jayden she stopped.

"Jayden?" A flood of memories erupted in her mind, threatening to destroy the pretty picture before her, but soon she was calm and stable. She looked at Jayden before turning back to the kids.

"This is what you used to do?" Jayden asked quietly, with a hint of patience. Mia allowed herself a small smile, nodding at the scene before her. Never looking away.

"They were my life. I loved them." Mia confessed. She turned to Jayden when she felt him watching her.

"Are you ever going to have kids of your own?"

"Um," Mia looked away, blushing. Since when did Jayden ask her such personal questions. She blushed and couldn't look at him.

"With Kevin?" Mia turned to him sharply, there was a strange ripple in his figure, like he was not real, or like an image.

"I..."

"Would you want to be happy with Kevin?" Jayden asked with all the authority of the Red Ranger. Mia bit her lip.

"We can't.."

"Yes, you can." Mia shook her head there was something missing. Something important.

"We're..." Red Ranger. "We have to protect the innocent from the Nighlok's. From Master Xandred." Jayden watched her carefully, before taking her shoulders into his.

"Mia, listen to me very carefully, Master Xandred is gone."

"Gone?" Mia gasped out.

"You can live your life now, Mia. Just follow your heart, you can be happy." Mia shook her head.

"This doesn't make sense." She tried to pull away from Jayden's hold, but he was stubborn in keeping her in his grip. A panic went through her and she thrashed wildly in his arms. "You're not Jayden, let me go!" Mia pushed against him and was amazed when he disappeared in front of her. She heard a sigh above her, around her, she wasn't sure where.

"Why must you all be so boring?" She heard a female voice say before Mia began to scream in pain, she gripped her head and fell to the ground, sobbing. The pain was too real, it was engulfing her, becoming her. She cried as her heart beat in an impossibly fast rate and she crumpled her body into a fetal position. The pain was exploding around her entire body now.

* * *

Jayden sighed as the Gap Sensor was still going off, but it still didn't show on the map. He was about to call out of for Kevin to come help him when said boy came running in.

"I can't find the others." He said in one gasp.

"What? What do you mean you can't find the others?"

"They're not here, Jayden." Kevin said in a rushed, worried voice. Jayden wasn't able to think long enough because Mentor came in through the door.

"Where are the others?" Kevin and Jayden looked at each other. They each got their Samuraizers out and quickly began to locate them. They were all in the same place.

"We'll go for them." Jayden said. "You try and figure out where this Nighlok is." Mentor Ji looked hard at the map, and then at the Samuraizers. He moved the map to show the four colored dots, unmoving in the mountain side. "

I think I know where he is." He said gravely.

Jayden and Kevin looked at each other in panic, before running out the Shiba house, to their friends. They were both ready to find a bloody mess, but what they found were their four friends in the ground, sleeping.

"Are you kidding me?" Kevin said through a relieved sigh.

"Wait-" Jayden watched with close proximity as Emily, Mia and Antonio seemed to be stiff in their sleep. "We have to wake them up." Kevin reached over to touch Mia, but Jayden stopped him. "Not like that. The Nighlok will get in your mind too."

Jayden used his power symbol to create a protective shield over his and Kevin's mind. When he was done, he used another power symbol to get into all of them, shimmering in color. A moment passed where nothing happened, before Mia, Emily and Antonio sat up screaming in pain. They thrashed against each other, standing up and moving to different sides of the field, as if running from something.

"Stop, stop!" Jayden screamed.

They all were shaking, but when they opened their eyes, after a moment of blinking and moaning, they looked around scared. When they each looked at Jayden, they cowered back, as if they were waiting for an attack. Kevin could see this too, and tried to step in front of him.

"Guys, are you okay?" He asked calmly, quietly. The others started at him in mistrust, before they realized it was the real Kevin. They nodded slowly, but stopped when an aftereffect of pain rolled over them. "What happened?" He asked, the looked at Mike. All the others turned as well, and Emily was the first one to reach him, she cradled his head in her lap.

"Mike, please- Wake up!" She gently shook him, but nothing helped, he was stuck in his sleep state.

"What happened to him?" Antonio asked, kneeling beside Emily. Silently all of them looked at Mike, before Jayden spoke.

"We have to take him to Mentor. He will help him."

Emily and the others turned their eyes to Jayden in suspicious mistrust. Kevin, once again, stepped in front of him.

"Come on, we have to help him, and if taking him to Mentor will help, then let's do that." Calmed again by Kevin's presence, they all nodded and got Mike in their hands. They wouldn't let Kevin or Jayden touch him.

When they got to the Shiba house, Mentor was already waiting for them with all their needed supplies. He began to work on him and it went on like this for hours. None of them turned to leave, they just watched; every once in a while Mentor would turn to Jayden and give him a significant look. Finally, they all asked what had happened to him.

"Why won't he wake up?" Mia asked, worried.

"Is he okay?" Antonio added.

Emily never looked away from Mike, she felt like she would cry, and knew that if she spoke, she would break down. So she just stared at the unmoving body before her.

"I don't-" Jayden began, with all the intention of not telling them.

"Jayden." Mentor snapped.

Jayden looked at him, and he felt a heavy feeling set in his heart. He nodded. "Mike- Mike's trapped in the dream world. I don't know what Nighlok it was, but whatever it was, Mike's stuck there. In his own mind."

"How do we get him out?" Emily asked, hurt, her voice broke. "We have to defeat the Nighlok." Jayden said tense, then decided to add, "If we don't he won't ever wake up."

Every one looked at Mike, and that was all it took. In her pain-induced mind, still trying to grasp reality, Emily broke down, and she cried. Mia ran to her and hugged her, they both stared at Mike as he slept. Probably to never wake up.

**~* Please Review *~**

**Dun dun dun...(cue even more dramatic music)**

**We'll see if Mike makes it. Please review. :) and again if some or most of this doesn't make sense, i'm sorry. I tried to make it make sense. **


	12. Into The Dream world Part 1

**New Chapter, I'm sorry that I didn't update soon. School is really dragging me down. I truly am sorry.**

Mike glanced at the girls before him, they were smiling at him, like they usually did. Mike sighed.

"When are you coming back, Mike? We miss you." The blonde with short hair pouted. The other girl nodded.

Mike smiled. "I'm busy with my family." He said.

The girls pouted before smiling flirtatiously at him. "Your Dad still working your ass like there's no tomorrow?"

Mike glared. "That's not any of your business, Myra."

Myra shrugged. Mike looked at her, really looked at her. They had been friends for a while, before he met his boys, but she was always there. In the back of his mind, making him remember of what used to be.

"Why did we stop being friends, Mikey?" Myra purred.

They were now alone, Mike looked around confused. "Where's-"

"Never mind her." Myra cupped his cheek, making him look at her. "Why did we stop being friends, Mikey? Tell me."

Mike looked at her in the eyes, torn. "You know why."

Myra shook her head. "No, I don't."

Mike closed his eyes, and leaned into the warmth of her hand. "Myra..." He whispered, his heart breaking. "I never wanted to hurt you."

Myra smiled sweetly at him, and as she leaned up to kiss him, Mike closed his eyes.

* * *

"Is he going to be okay?" Emily asked.

Jayden nodded, taking out his samuraizer. "We know that the Nighlok is inside, so all we need to do is get him out."

"Sounds simple enough." Antonio crossed his arms. "What's the catch?"

"We have to go in there too." Jayden said seriously.

They all settled into a tense silence.

"And then?" Emily asked.

"We hope he doesn't control us too." Jayden said.

Mentor came and looked grave. "Are you ready, Jayden?"

"What?" Mia said, stepping forward, closer to Jayden. "Are you going there alone?"

Jayden nodded. "Yes, I have to. You three are still hurt from last time. Kevin will wait here and once I bring him out, he'll take him down."

Kevin looked down at the gold thread he had in his hands, nodding.

"Okay, you all wait here."

He was about to lay down, when Emily stepped forward.

"I'm going with you." She said with conviction.

Jayden shook his head. "No, you're still hurt from last time. We can't risk you going in there."

"We can't risk you going in there alone. You'll get hurt, then we will be defenseless. Don't be so stubborn, Jayden. We need to help each other."

"Emily-"

"You got in between Mike and me when nothing was going on. The least you could do is let me do this."

"Bribing me is not going to help, Emily. I said no and that's final." Jayden said, holding his ground.

Emily's face fell and she sighed. "If you don't want me to go, then take one of us. Don't be stupid, Jayden. You know what will happen if the Nighlok gets you too."

Jayden considered this for a moment. Before looking at Antonio. "Come on."

Antonio looked at Emily and gave her a reassuring smile. Telling her, through that, that he would find Mike and bring him back.

He sighed as he laid next to Jayden, Mike's sleeping form was beside them. He had been laying there for almost 24 hours. Antonio didn't care how long it took, but he would bring Mike back. He glanced at Emily. He had already promised.

Jayden nodded to Kevin, who nodded and stepped forward. He made the power symbol in front of Antonio and Jayden and watched as they fell asleep.

"They'll be okay." Kevin said silently.

Mia and Emily stared at them worried, they had been in the dream world. And as reassuring as Kevin sounded, they were still petrified by the events.

They would be okay, Emily thought. They had to be.

* * *

Jayden fell in a heap in the ground, and was on his feet really fast. He was surprised when Antonio was stuck on a tree.

"Hey, Antonio." Jayden called, grabbing for his samuraizer. He knew that in the dream world, he had to keep a grasp with reality. In this case, his samuraizer. He sighed softly, when he felt the cool feel of the object.

Antonio jumped off the tree and smiled at Jayden. "Sorry, got stuck."

Jayden looked around the barren area. It was empty.

"Were you here before?"

Antonio shook his head, also looking around. "No."

Jayden set his jaw, steeling his mind. "Let's go."

Antonio nodded and followed Jayden down a path that led to a familiar mountain. Antonio swallowed nervously.

* * *

Mike opened his eyes to find his room empty, with the exception, of course, of him having leftover pizza boxes on the ground. Pieces of clothing were thrown here and there, and the familiar music of his video games was on the t.v.; "Michael, come to the living room, darling, please!"

His mom called out for him. Mike tensed up, before sighing and going downstairs where she and his old man were in the living room.

"Yeah, Mom?"

His mom frowned when Mike said that. "Honey, are you okay?"

Mike's dad sighed. "Mike, why are you acting out? Rebelling? You're not doing your school work, you don't have a job. What are you going to do with your life, Mike? You're well on your way of becoming a slacker, and I don't want slackers in the family."

Mike's face reddened in embarrassment. "Dad, I'm trying. I'm just not into studying-"

"You're not into anything useful, Mike. You need to stop being like this. No one is going to like a person like you. Tell me why?"

Mike looked down.

"Tell me why, Michael!" His father roared.

"Because I'm not good enough!" Mike yelled back, face red, eyes furious.

The scene changed and Mike was once again alone with Myra. Only this time, Mike could see they were in a cafe. The same cafe that Myra always liked to go too. The sweet-smelling coffee made him smile slightly.

"Are you ready?" Myra asked.

"What?" Mike looked at her confused, not sure what she had said.

Myra looked at him innocently. "I said, are you going to stay with me?"

Mike looked at her confused. "Why would I ever leave?"

* * *

Emily felt her heart break as she saw Mike there, in bed, sleeping. He looked peaceful, but what broke her heart was that he was not sleeping. He was trapped in his mind, all because of that Nighlok.

Finally she sighed. "I'm going in there."

"What?" Kevin asked, shocked.

Mia shook her head. Not saying anything. "Look, that won't help."

"Mia." Emily began.

"I said no!" Mia snapped, before she sighed sadly. "Look, they're in enough danger." She motioned to Jayden and Antonio. "If you go in there, you're in danger too."

"But-"

"No, buts. I know you want to go in there. Believe me, I do. But I'm not going to let you."

Emily's eyes misted over with tears and she tried not to cry, but her face crumpled up and the sobs broke lose. Mia hugged her and Emily covered her face with her hands, making her sobs stifle.

Mia looked at Kevin sadly, and he walked over and hugged both girls. Reassuring them, as well as reassuring himself.

* * *

"There!" Jayden screamed before he sprinted over to Mike's sleeping body. He was alone. Jayden and Antonio stepped closer, waiting for the Nighlok to appear. But when no danger came out, Jayden sighed.

"He's trapped in his own dream too."

"So, he's dreaming while he's...dreaming?" Antonio asked. He sighed, this was too much to understand. "How do we get him out? How do we get the Nighlok?"

"The Nighlok's in there with him." Jayden sighed. "It's taken hold of him, but we can get him out."

"How?"

"Like this." Jayden looked around and began to imagine the beach. Soon, the white sand, the smell of salt water, and the cool breeze reached him. Antonio looked around amazed.

Suddenly the world began to shake and out came the Nighlok. It was inside of Mike, but it came out from a dark purple energy as soon as it felt the changes.

"Who's in my dream?" She looked around, and to Jayden it looked like she was shifting between being two things.

"Let out friend go." Jayden ordered, pointing to Mike.

"No. I'm having too much fun with him."

Jayden glared. He got ready to attack when Antonio got him from behind and kept a strong hold over him.

"What- Antonio, stop! Snap out of it."

The Nighlok's bell-like laughter rang all the way into his ears. "Seems he's on my side now."

"Let him go!"

"Oh, well, I will. Just tell me which one do you want? That sleeping beauty over there, or your secret admirer."

"What?" Jayden struggled under the possessed Antonio. "Just let them go. You're going to lose anyway. Nighlok's like you are always defeated."

"Really?" The Nighlok laughed. "Is that why your parents are dead? Because Nighlok's like me are defeated? Face it, they were weak, like you." She spat. Jayden grew still, frozen by her words. "You think you can defeat each and every single one of us, but you can't. Sooner or later, you're all going to end up dead like your Mother and Father."

"No! I won't let that happen." Jayden screamed out, lashing out in anger.

"Well, well, well." The Nighlok laughed. "If I had known that all it took to make you react was to bring you into the dream world, I would have done so ages ago." She laughed evilly. "I've watched all of you, waiting for the right moment to attack and now here I am. Ready to destroy each and every single one of you."

Jayden glared at her in anger.

**To Be Continued...**

**Did anyone else feel confused? (I raise my hand) Sorry, guys. Look, it'll all be explained later in the story. In the second part of this chapter probably. If it really was confusing, I'm sorry. I'll do better next time.**

**~* Please Review *~**


	13. Into The Dream World Part 2

**I will generally enjoy everything that I write. I love it, but sometimes when I read back through it most of it sounds like crap. This one gave me that feeling, although this was a bit more centered then my last one. I've been having bad days. I'm sorry. But enough of my little rant, enjoy the chapter. :)**

Emily sighed when she was once again in the dream world. Her anger and agitation made it clear for her to keep a grasp in reality.

Jayden had tried to keep her away from her feelings. He had stressed the fact that when entering the dream world, they had to be as unemotionally involved as possible. His mistake was letting her decide for herself when to come in.

Anger, bitterness, worry, etc. Those were all feelings that were inside of her now. How could Jayden really be so stupid. Next time -if there was a next time- Emily would make sure to talk some sense into the overly protective Red Ranger.

She froze when she was met with the three people she was looking for.

They were asleep. All three of them. Had she not been panicking, Emily would have had a moment of cold satisfaction run through her. See, this was why you didn't come to the dream world emotionally involved. She thought to Jayden. You trap yourself.

She was about to reach for them when the Nighlok appeared.

"I'm not done with them."

Emily grabbed her sword and morphed.

The Nighlok growled. "How are you able to change in here?"

"It's the dream world remember? You're not the only one who can adapt to your environment." Emily planted her feet firmly on the ground, reveling her last ounce of peace before she threw herself forward and attacked the Nighlok viciously.

* * *

Mia watched Emily as her face paled in pain. "Should we have let her go in?"

"She was resilient. There was no stopping her." As he said this, Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose, blocking the sight of Emily in front of him and he sat down, facing away from her.

Mia noticed this and sat with him. "It will get better." She said more to herself than to him. She wished she was right.

* * *

Jayden and Antonio were able to escape the Nighlok, but Jayden knew that he was playing with them.

"What's he doing?" Antonio asked, looking around nervously through the streets.

"He wants us to let our guard down."

And that came a little too fast because they saw Mike and began to run to him.

"Mike?" Jayden asked panting.

Mike looked at them confused. "do I know you?"

"Yes you know us." Jayden angrily said.

"Oh come on. What do we need to do?" Antonio asked angrily.

"Well, we would have to get some sense into him, maybe physical force..."

Jayden didn't get to finish, because as soon as he had said 'physical force'' Antonio punched him hard and fast. Mike ended on the floor, gripping at his head.

"What the heck?"

Antonio punched him again and Mike groaned in place.

"Antonio!" He screamed and then realized what he had said. "Antonio?" He looked at Jayden. "Jayden, what- where are we?"

"You're dreaming." Jayden said with a sigh.

Mike raised himself to his feet. "How?"

"Nighlok attack. We came in here to get you, but she got the upper hand. I think we can get out of it now, but not sure how yet." Jayden said.

"Well, don't you know everything about the Nighloks? Isn't there a special way to kick their butt and get out of here?" He looked around for the first time. "Hey, this is-"

"It's not real." Jayden snapped.

Antonio sighed and began to walk away. "Come on, I'm sure standing around like sitting ducks won't help no one."

Jayden and Mike eyed each other before they walked after the Gold Ranger.

* * *

"Stop it!" The Nighlok said petulantly.

Emily hid behind a tree panting. She had not been able to take a small break since they had began to fight. It seemed that she was really the best Nighlok so far, and that was only because she ruled the world of illusions.

"Get my friends here and I will." Emily said angrily. She jumped out of the tree and swung her sword, "Earth Splicer." She screamed and watched in satisfaction as she made the attack curve around all of the Nighlok's defense and hit her.

The Nighlok growled. "Stop using my powers! You're not making this fun."

* * *

Mia paced, breathing in and out, slowly.

"So when they all look like they're not dreaming peacefully? That's when we get them out." Mia asked, she knew this already, but she needed reassurance.

Kevin nodded. Mia went back to pacing; the only one who wasn't dreaming yet, was Emily. Why were they taking so long? Why was Jayden not ready?

"How did you get stuck here?" Mike asked.

Jayden didn't meet his or Antonio's eyes. He remembered perfectly.

_Antonio was grabbing him tightly. Jayden knew he wouldn't hurt him, but he was frozen in the spot by the Nighlok's taunts of his parent's deaths._

_"They died and now your friends are next in line."_

_Jayden growled and glared with all he had. He would never let anyone or anything touch his friends. Never._

_The Nighlok laughed evilly. "You can't stop life from happening and sadly. They won't outlive this."_

Jayden focused himself on walking, the last traces of the memory went away soon and he sighed a bit more relieved, but not by a lot.

"Let's just go." He said.

* * *

"Do you want to know how I got your friend stuck here?" The Nighlok asked suddenly.

Emily never relaxed her stance, but she looked at the Nighlok interested. "Are you going to lie?"

The Nighlok laughed. "No."

Emily readied her stance. "I don't have to listen to this."

"Your green Ranger was very, very easy to control because his feelings were too strong."

Yeah, I've heard. Emily thought angrilly in her mind.

"A simple reimagining of you and your red Ranger and he was soon consumed with jealousy and heart break." The Nighlok looked at her hand, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Love can make you blind, but it can also make you weak, always remember that." The Nighlok paused then snapped her fingers. "You want your friends. I'll give them to you."

Jayden, Mike and Antonio were soon there, before her, and Emily felt relief run through her. It wasn't long enough before the Nighlok came at her and attacked her.

"EMILY!" They all screamed and ran to her. They each had their samuraizers and morphed quickly.

"You're going to regret that." Mike screamed as he jumped into the air, his sword ready to strike.

* * *

Mia and Kevin ran to stand in front of their friends. They nodded to each other before they wrote the power symbols and in awe watched as their four friends awoke, but they were not the only ones who came out.

They got ready to fight the Nighlok.

"You took me outside!" The Nighlok screeched.

"Yes." Mia said, faintly seeing the others wake up. "And you're not going anywhere."

(I'm sorry I couldn't think of a good fight scene here.)

They overpowered the Nighlok and having protected themselves from any further destruction the Dream Nighlok could do, they beat her and her second life.

In the end, Emily dropped to her knees in front of Mike and hugged him.

"Are you okay?" She checked him over. "You scared me, all of us."

Mike looked at her with confusion, before he hugged her again. "I'm sorry, Emily. I didn't mean to worry you."

"I know." Emily whispered.

Mentor, Mia, Jayden, Kevin and Antonio all walked over to check over Mike and each other.

Meanwhile, the Gap Sensor was going off like there was no tomorrow. No one paid it no mind. When they had brought the Nighlok from the dream world, she was easily noticed by the Gap Sensor and so far was still going off. But another Nighlok presence had been pulled out from the Dream world. He, the Nighlok who had fought with Emily walked around the Shiba house patiently until he entered the main study and got some of the sacred scrolls he had been looking for.

He disappeared in a flash and with him, the Gap Sensor went off.

The others were outside, happy that they were safe, and didn't notice.

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	14. Secret Plans

**A/N: Okay, I know my last two chapters, probably my last three made no sense. I'm sorry about that, but It just came out that way. I'll fix it and explain everything though. So sorry.**

Jayden sighed as he fixed his stance and was ready to attack the dummy, but he couldn't concentrate. He sighed and turned back to look at Antonio in the eyes, who had been standing there for the last half hour, just watching him practice.

"Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to join me?"

Antonio moved over to the swords, got two, handed one to Jayden, and they soon begant o practice.

"I know you're worried." Antonio said in between blows. Sadly, that left him open for an attack and Jayden soon had him on the floor. Antonio sat up glaring, and sighed when Jayden offered him his hand.

"I'm not worried."

"Yeah? Tell that to someone who will believe you." Antonio scoffed. "Tell me what's on your mind."

Jayden wanted too. Ever since they had escaped from the Nighlok who had captured Mike in his dreams, Jayden had not been the same. He had been on constant edge, more so than he usually was. He couldn't get over the words the Nighlok had told him.

_"You think you can defeat each and every single one of us, but you can't. Sooner or later, you're all going to end up dead like your Mother and Father."_

He tried to hide his worry from the others, and as good as he was hiding it, Antonio wouldn't be fooled.

The truth was that this last Nighlok had gotten under Jayden's skin. He had literally, threaded under his most personal fears, his intimate feelings and used them against him. She had also used Antonio against him.

Once they were both trapped with Mike, because Jayden had been so weak, she had had her dose of fun and let them go. Walking around, looking for Mike, but still stuck in the dream world. That is until the Nighlok had forced them out of that dream, and they found Emily there, fighting with the Nighlok.

They had gotten out of there by luck, and now all Jayden could do was worry over the next Nighloks.

Soon after they had come back, Mentor had pulled him to his room and told him that a very important scroll had disappeared. The Sealing symbol was there. Jayden had quickly understood what that had meant.

Master Xandred had gotten the sealing symbol. Now, it was useless against him. Now, Jayden didn't know what to do.

"Jayden?"

Jayden looked up at Antonio with a small smile. "I'm fine." He sighed. "And you? How have you been?"

Antonio shrugged. "Well, better now."

Jayden nodded. He remembered when Mia and Antonio and Emily had woken up from the first dream the Nighlok had kept them in. They mistrusted him, hated him even. They only trusted Kevin. Jayden knew that the effect of that would soon leave, but every once in a while, all three of them would get tense around him.

Jayden didn't know it yet, but he was slowly losing his front. This bothered him more than he liked and now it was becoming too much.

"Hey." Antonio put his sword down and took Jayden's. He led them to a bench and sat down with him. "What's wrong?"

Jayden shook his head. "Nothing's wrong."

Antonio gave him a cocky smile. "You're gonna have to do better than that to fool me, amigo."

Jayden had to smile at that.

"I want to defeat him, Antonio."

Antonio tensed, he knew who Jayden was referring to.

"You will, Jayden, and we'll help you."

"I don't want Master Xandred to hurt you, any of you." Jayden said fervently.

"And he won't." Antonio said calmly. Confused beyond understanding, he looked at his friend, not sure where this protective feeling had come from. "We're going to help each other."

Jayden nodded, but he still wasn't sure. He couldn't be sure.

* * *

Serrator watched from afar, joy at what he heard making him feel much better.

Dayu glared at him in contemp.

"Don't feel so smug, Serrator. You may have brought Master Xandred the Sealing Symbol, but beyond that you're as useless at the rest of us."

"That's what you'd like to think, my dear Dayu." Serrator said with an evil chuckle.

He left and Dayu watched him go, wondering what he had up his sleeve this time.

**I'm sorry that this chapter was short, I just wanted to write a filler chapter, but I'm sure that this, as small as it is, made sure the story moved on. Sorry for not updating sooner. School is killing me.**

**I'm also sorry for the lack of Emily, Mike, Mia, Kevin and Mentor. I just wanted to write this one short, and well, it mostly came out showing Jayden's pov. Sorry.**

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